Fallen Angel
by Valkyrie1
Summary: This is the story of Hu Li Zhang, an unusual transfer student from Hong Kong. She has a painful and mysterious past and dreads going to school in Great Britain and doing the fearful job Professor Dumbledore asked her to do. (PG-13 only because of mild swe
1. Blood of the Innocent

I – Blood of the Innocent 

I – Blood of the Innocent The girl stood uncertainly in the London train station. She glanced uneasily around her. Everyone here was gabbling in their harsh, strange language, and as far as she could tell, every one of them was a Muggle. 

The tall, commanding man beside her leaned down slightly to her ear and said in her own, beautiful, familiar tongue, "Hu Li, the instructions were to go through the gate between platforms nine and ten. Nine and Three-Quarters is there."

Hu Li looked at him. It was solid railing, or at least looked that way. But she had always been taught to look beyond to the obvious to see the truth. And she trusted old Wang. He was an old friend of her father's.

She pushed the cart with her heavy trunk in it easily, as if it weighed nothing. She knew that Wang pityingly watched her do this, knowing the source of her strength. She looked back at him, her cart pushed up against the railing. He smiled. "Go on, Hu Li. And good luck." He bowed. "May the birds of fortune alight on your shoulder and may the crickets of compromise chirp for you."

Hu Li closed her eyes and pushed. The extrasensory atmosphere suddenly changed and she knew she was no longer with the Muggles. She opened her eyes. Wizards and witches milled around with their children, kissing them goodbye, double-checking their trunks, and seeing them onto the train. The huge crimson train waited patiently, breathing smoke and fire like the scarlet-colored Chinese Fireball that her father's friend Ziyi back in China had showed her. This was Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

She was a little nervous. No, make that pretty damn nervous. She was not in Hong Kong anymore – or even in Asia. She was in London, in Great Britain, in Europe. People were different here. Not like the Americans – at least she had been there for a while. Hu Li almost wished she could have gone to one of the two American schools of magic – but Albus Dumbledore had a job for her to do. Dumbledore trusted that Hu Li would do it and do it well. She wished she had the same confident thoughts.

Suddenly Hu Li felt a slight shove from behind. She stumbled, then regained her balance and turned to see two red-haired boys and a taller boy with hair like thick black snakes. Dreadlocks, she remembered they were called here. The boys with hair like fire, she saw on closer inspection, were identical.

One of them bowed to her. At least they are courteous, she thought, and felt a little better. "So sorry," he said in that funny accent. "Wasn't watching where I was heading. ' Course, if old Lee hadn't tripped me -"

"I did not!" said the taller boy in indignation. "If you weren't so clumsy -"

The other fire-haired boy interrupted, "Hey, are you new?"

Hu Li nodded. English, she told her tongue firmly. Make English sounds. "Yes," she said hesitatingly. "I am Zhang – I mean, I am Hu Li Zhang. I'm a transfer from a school in Hong Kong." Nice job, she told herself, angry. In Europe, they do not put the family names first. You are not Zhang Hu Li here. 

Their eyes widened. "Cool," said the Lee boy reverently. He stuck out his hand. "Lee Jordan. 

She took his hand and pumped it up and down like she had seen her father do to other Europeans and Americans. "Pleased to meet you."

The other two boys held out their hands at the same time. "Fred and George Weasley," said one of them.

Lee Jordan said, "So, Hu Li, why'd you transfer from Hong Kong?"

She rather liked these boys so far. "I came to Hogwarts," she said carefully, "because my

father is good friends with Professor Dumbledore, and my father wants me to finish my education in Europe." At least this year, she added mentally. She hoped that her mission would not take three years.

"What year are you going into?" said a red-haired boy. George, she guessed, remembering the other one had both his shoes tied. 

"Fifth year," Hu Li answered.

George, looking pleased, said, "That's the year that my brother Ron and his friends -" Just then the train's whistle blew a loud clear note.

The other redhead, presumably Fred, clapped her on the back. "Well, it was jolly good talking to you, Hu Li. We'll see you later." They boarded the crimson train, leaving her standing there with her trunk. 

Hu Li quickly boarded the train as well. The first three compartments she walked through were nearly full, and to sit down in one of them would mean she'd have to sit next to someone, and she did not want that just yet.

The fourth compartment was much less full. She passed a quartet of hard-faced girls and then a long section of empty seats, otherwise occupied only by three boys in the far back. She sat across from them.

Two of the boys were talking quietly and looking at something. The other one was sitting calmly in his seat, not talking to the other two. Hu Li reached out mentally and felt his aura – cool, wise, sophisticated, at ease, and a very slight note of dissatisfaction with something in his life. That boy glanced at her curiously.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye and inhaled the scents and auras of the compartment. She smelled cheap, brash perfume, bubblegum, and a Muggle soft drink coming from the four girls at the very front of the compartment. From the boy looking at her, she smelled cool night air, limes, and expensive shampoo. From the other two, she smelled steamed broccoli and some other disgusting and indefinable odor. They were crude, mean-looking beasts, and she didn't want to get any closer to them. They were vile enough from where she was, and she didn't think her extremely perceptive senses would be able to stomach them.

The atmosphere – now this was an interesting and unusual compartment. While all the others she had entered had been full of excitement, laughter, and slight apprehension, this one had a crackling and uncomfortable air of malice, spite, and cruel rivalry – coming mostly from the four girls and the two crude boys. The other boy seemed to be above all of it, lofty and imperious.

The girls in the very front of the compartment were plotting evilly against one Hermione Granger. Hu Li's sharp hearing could pick out every word they said, although they were quite far away and they whispered. As far as she could tell, this poor girl's only crimes were to be top of the year, have bushy brown hair, and to be friends with two boys. Hu Li felt sorry for Hermione Granger and mentally dismissed these girls from her list of possible friends. What a fun crowd, she thought darkly.

"Are you new here?" said a low, drawling voice. The nonchalant boy who had been observing her for five minutes had finally spoken to her. She turned and looked directly into his face.

He was rather handsome, Hu Li realized with some pleasure, and he wore his good looks with a casual grace. White blond hair, an insolent mouth, cool gray eyes, and a pale face looked back at her. "Yes," she said just as coolly. "I am. I'm a transfer from Hong Kong."

He leaned back in his seat. "Hong Kong, now that's a hell of a haul. Why Hogwarts?"

She repeated the same reason she had given the red-haired Weasleys and Lee Jordan.

The good-looking blonde boy nodded. "Friends of old Dumbledore, eh? What's your name,

anyway?"

"Hu Li Zhang," she said offhandedly. "And yours?"

The boy looked at her wryly through half-closed gray eyes, his head resting on the back of his chair. "I'm Draco Malfoy. Welcome to Hogwarts." He closed his eyes and smiled, a lazy but charming smile.

Hu Li said, watching him, "I'm going into fifth year. What about you?"

"Fifth," he said, opening his eyes and sitting up suddenly. "The plot thickens. What House do you think you'll be put into?"

"House?" she repeated faintly.

"Oh yeah, we separate the students by Houses at Hogwarts …" And he was off, explaining about Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. She couldn't help but notice he seemed to be prejudiced in favor of the House of Slytherin.

"Let me guess – you're a Slytherin," she said dryly, knowing what the answer was even before he opened his mouth.

"Good call," he said, looking only mildly pleased. "Didn't they have Houses at the school in Hong Kong?"

"No. I went to the Golden Dragon Academy of the Magical Arts – or at least that's its name roughly translated. We had no Houses. We had – well, I don't even know the term for it in English. They did separate us like your Houses for the sake of friendly competition."

Draco Malfoy looked at her kindly. "You're new to the English language, aren't you? And I don't mean to offend you in any way."

"Yes," she said anxiously. "Does it show?"

"Not a bit," he said calmly. "Is your native tongue Chinese?"

"Yes," she replied. "I've only been learning English for the last two years. I'm afraid I haven't picked up everything yet."

"Not to worry. We British are always willing to help out a pretty girl," he said with eyes closed and mouth almost smiling. She looked at him closely. 

Just then, the two other boys turned to Draco and said, "Hey, who're you talking to?"

Draco seemed impatient. "Hu Li Zhang. Transfer from Hong Kong." Hey, that rhymes, Hu Li thought.

One of them guffawed and stood up, holding whatever he had been looking at in his hand. "Hey, I'd like to introduce myself as -"

He never got a chance to introduce himself as anything. At that moment, the thing he had been holding in his hand exploded. It was one of those no-heat wet-start firecrackers, Hu Li had time to recall. The oaf promptly let out a bellow and dropped the flaming thing into Hu Li's hands.

She shrieked a curse in Chinese and threw the firecracker down the compartment's corridor. However, even her unnaturally swift reflexes were too slow for an already-burning firecracker to save her hands from harsh burns.

Draco snarled, "Damn it, Goyle!" and leapt up next to Hu Li. "My God, are you all right?"

Hu Li looked down at her hands, covered with severe red blisters and scorched a rough crimson in some places, and up into Draco's concerned face. To hell with this, she thought, and stood up. "Sorry, Draco," she said calmly. "I'm leaving to find a more peaceful place."

Ignoring the vicious pain in her hands and Draco's demands that she get medical attention, she pulled her trunk out of there, leaving Goyle with very itchy purple spots on his face and Draco standing, looking after her. She could feel his disappointment, but ignored that too.

She pulled her trunk through two more compartments until she found one that wasn't full. 

Only three people, two boys and a girl about her age, occupied this one. She set her trunk down with a thud and sensed that the pain in her hands was already almost gone.

Hearing the noise from her trunk, they looked at her in surprise. She said carefully, "Hi. Is it all right if I sit down there?" She pointed to the last seat.

They stared at her. Hu Li sized them up in three seconds flat. The girl was smart-looking and pretty and had lots of thick brown hair. Hermione Granger, she thought. The next was a tall, gangly, red-haired boy with freckles. She thought, Ron Weasley, remembering what George Weasley had been about to tell her. The last was a dark-haired, emerald-eyed boy with glasses and a scar on his forehead. Ah, she thought. The famous Harry Potter. At last we meet.

Hermione spoke up pleasantly. "Of course you can. Please sit here." She pointed to the empty seat next to her.

Hu Li said quickly, "Oh no, thank you, but I don't want to impose."

Harry Potter said, "You're not imposing. It's okay."

She began again, "No, really, I don't wish to make anyone uncomfortable."

Ron Weasley said, "Uncomfortable? I am the epitome of comfortable." He leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and smiled. Unconsciously, she thought of Draco. Comfortable – a good word to describe Draco Malfoy.

"Well -" she said reluctantly, allowing Hermione to jump up and pull her over to the seat to which they had pointed. Hu Li sat down.

"Well," she said. "I'm Hu Li Zhang, transfer from Hong Kong." It was becoming like a title for her, the way her father announced himself as "Zhang Lo, Auror."

"Wow," said Hermione. "That must be fascinating, I've read so much about the Asian forms of magic and how they -"

"Herm," interrupted Harry. "Go easy before you frighten her away. Maybe before you start spouting off your knowledge we should introduce ourselves."

"Oh, that's all right," said Hu Li. "I know who you all are."

It might have been the wrong thing to say, judging from the startled expressions on their faces. "You – you know who we are?" said Ron, who was no longer looking comfortable. "I mean, everyone knows who Harry is, but us, too?"

"Oh, yes," said Hu Li faintly. "You're Ron Weasley, and you're Hermione Granger, and you're Harry Potter. Right?"

Hermione said slowly, "How do you know all that?"

Hu Li replied, "Well, I had a run-in with Ron's two brothers back at King's Cross, and I heard people talking about Hermione – Hermione's grades in the other compartment I was in, and of course, even in Hong Kong we know who Harry Potter is."

The three looked at each other. "Makes sense," said Ron, shrugging. "Why did you move from the other compartment?"

Hu Li looked down at her hands. They were smooth and lithe and ivory-colored – just as they always had been, without a trace of scarring or burns. "There were two very unpleasant boys, and one dropped a firecracker on me."

"Are you all right?" said Harry with concern. "Did it burn you?"

She held up her hands. "No. I managed to throw it down the corridor before it burned me."

Hermione said thoughtfully, "I wonder who the unpleasant boys were?"

Hu Li said, "Draco called the one who dropped the firecracker 'Goyle,' if that's any help."

Once again they looked at each other, Ron and Harry with undisguised disgust on their faces. "_Draco_?" said Ron. "Malfoyset off a firecracker on you?" 

"No – Draco was very kind, he wanted to help me. It was _Goyle_ who set it off," Hu Li said uncertainly, wondering why there faces expressed such loathing.

Harry said carefully, "Are you sure it was _Draco_ who was kind? Blonde, pale, arrogant sort of fellow? It couldn't have been - he's the nastiest Slytherin prat we've got at Hogwarts."

Hu Li said, confused, "It can't be the same one, he was very nice to me."

Hermione said helpfully, "It's okay, he was probably just getting ready to insult you."

Hu Li stared at her hands. He had not been faking being nice to her. She had read a lot of things behind his auras and unsaid words, but none of them had been falsity. But how could she explain that to these nice people without telling them who – _what_ – she really was?

"I suppose," she said uneasily.

"Chocolate Frog?" said Ron, holding up a sweet.

"What's that?" said Hu Li, fascinated by the English writing on the wrapper.

"They don't have these in China?" said Ron.

She shook her head. "And it's Hong Kong. I am from China, but I spend most of my time in Hong Kong." Hu Li accepted the Chocolate Frog and they munched pleasantly for a while. Hu Li obeyed their instructions to slip into her Hogwarts robes, and she pulled them quickly over her Muggle clothes.

"Wonder who the new DADA teacher is?" Ron said gloomily after more sweets. "I'll poison myself with basilisk venom if it's Snape."

"I'll skydive off the North Tower, _sans_ parachute," Harry said with equal gloominess.

Hu Li felt her muscles tense slightly. "Snape? _Severus_ Snape?" she said slowly.

Once again they stared at her. "You know him?" said Harry dismally. 

Damn, she thought. What now? "We've met," Hu Li replied, keeping her eyes on her Pumpkin Pasty. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing, he's only the most merciless and evil Potions teacher in the world," said Ron bitterly. 

Hu Li could not keep a smile off her lips. "Potions, eh? He was always so good at Potions."

Harry stared. "Don't even tell me you're friends with Snape."

"No one said anything about being friends with him," Hu Li said evenly. "I just said we've met. He knows my father."

"Your father," repeated Ron.

"Yes," Hu Li said with just the merest trace of impatience. "He's an Auror in China."

"And he knows Snape," said Harry.

"Oh for goodness' sake," said Hermione irritably. "She didn't say her and Snape are getting married, she just said she knew him. Get over it." Hu Li looked up at Hermione and smiled gratefully. Hermione gave her a wink.

"So tell me everything about Hogwarts," said Hu Li, stretching her arms lazily. 

"Well, the staircases move, the paintings talk, the teachers are bizarre, and the food is excellent," said Ron. "That's about everything."

Hu Li and Hermione both gave Ron exasperated looks. He grinned slightly. Hermione said to Hu Li, "It's quite a big school, or at least I think it is, but you'll get used to it in no time."

"We have a great Quidditch team, or at least we did until Wood and Alicia Spinnet graduated," said Harry glumly.

Hu Li sat up straight. "There are positions open?"

"Keeper and Chaser," said Harry excitedly. "Are you any good?"

"I suppose," she said. "I was a Chaser on the team back at Golden Dragon. Oh – my school in Hong Kong," she added, seeing their befuddled looks.

"Great," said Harry. "You can try out and see if you make the team."

Maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all, she thought. "Great," she repeated.

Hermione said breathlessly, "So your father is an Auror? That must be incredibly interesting, to live with a real Auror."

"Oh, I wouldn't know," said Hu Li. "He's not even home most of the time. It's usually just me, the housekeeper, and the housekeeper's finch most of the time."

"What about your mother?" said Ron, not noticing the ferocious look Hermione was giving him.

"Dead," she said shortly. _Ah, lying to them already, are we?_ said a nasty little voice inside her head. She swallowed.

"I'm sorry," said Ron softly. 

"Don't worry about it," she said uncomfortably. "I didn't even know her. I was two or three when she – died." Hu Li picked up a colorful little bag and said in a desperate effort to change the subject, "Ah, what are these?"

"Oh, those are Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," said Harry. "A surprise with every mouthful."

Hu Li put them down hastily. Harry grinned at her. "Come on, live it up. Bring some

excitement into you life."

"Thank you, I've had enough in the last few hours," she said. Well, that's not a lie, at least, she thought to herself.

Hermione was peering out the window. "We're nearly there! I can't wait!"

"By the way, what houses are you three in?" said Hu Li.

"Gryffindor," they said simultaneously. Hermione added, "We're not saying it's the only good house -" 

"We're not?" said Ron and Harry at the same time.

"- because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are also good, but Slytherin … well," Hermione said, "I don't think I'd want to be a Slytherin."

"That's right," said Harry. "I mean, look at Malfoy."

Hu Li avoided Hermione's perceptive gaze. "Right," she muttered. 

The train suddenly slowed and stopped. They all stood up. "Well, here we are," said Hu Li nervously. "How do you get separated into Houses, anyway?"

Ron began with relish, "Well, first they take you down to the dungeons and chain you to the wall. They leave you there for maybe a day with only the rats for company, and then they -"

"_Ron_," Hermione cut him off.

Ron looked at Hu Li apologetically. "Sorry – new student harassment. I couldn't resist."

Hermione explained, "They put the Sorting Hat on you. It looks into your mind and figures out what House you belong in by your main characteristics. No lying to the Sorting Hat."

Hu Li felt cold fear clutch at her stomach. "It looks into your mind? Does it – does it say what it sees?"

"Oh, no, not out loud," Harry assured her. "It talks to you inside your head."

Like I haven't got enough of that already, Hu Li thought.


	2. Sleep of the Damned

II - Sleep of the Damned

II – Sleep of the Damned 

Hu Li alighted from the train with her trunk and the other three students. She was still feeling slightly uneasy about the Sorting Hat, but began to feel a little bit better during the long, bumpy carriage ride up to the magnificent castle. As long as the silly hat doesn't tell anyone what it sees, she thought.

A stern witch in glasses and a tight bun met them at the door. Harry whispered to Hu Li that this was Professor McGonagall, the Transfigurations Teacher. She explained a few things and then ushered them into a huge room. As Hu Li was trying to go through the door among the crowd of students, McGonagall caught sight of her. The professor's face brightened, and she pulled Hu Li off to the side.

"Hu Li Zhang?" Professor McGonagall said, hidden safely behind a suit of armor once worn by Caroteus the Colossal. Hu Li nodded.

McGonagall went on, "You're here for the special job for the Headmaster, is that right?"

"Yes," Hu Li managed, "The em -"

"_Shh_," said McGonagall. "I'm Deputy Head here, so I know about it, but the majority of the other teachers do not. However, two, Severus Snape and Rubeus Hagrid, are both involved in other facets of the project, so they will be alerted to the fact that you will be helping Dumbledore."

"I know Severus Snape," said Hu Li softly. Professor McGonagall looked at her strangely.

"You would, wouldn't you?" she said quietly. "Well, no one else knows, so don't tell anyone."

"You got it," said Hu Li wretchedly.

McGonagall still looked at her. "You are sure you're up for the job, now? Considering Sou Mei …"

Hu Li said firmly, "As far as I am concerned, my mother is dead, and I would appreciate it if you would tell that to anyone who might ask. Furthermore, I do not believe I am up to the job, but Professor Dumbledore does, and I trust him more than I trust myself."

Hu Li wasn't sure, but she thought Professor McGonagall's thin mouth smiled for just a moment. Then McGonagall said crisply, "Very well, Zhang. Let's go into the Great Hall, where you will be Sorted into the proper house."

They walked together into the huge, cavernous room, lit by many candles suspended magically in the air. Four long tables were in the center of the room, and one smaller table on a platform for the teachers was off to the side. In the center of the room, a tiny first year was seated on a chair, wearing a tattered old hat that came over her eyes. So _that's_ the Sorting Hat, Hu Li thought. 

McGonagall steered her to the end of the line of first years. "There is one other transfer student this year, a third year. After the first years are Sorted, his name will be called, then yours. Walk up to the platform and put on the Hat," whispered McGonagall, and then swept away, leaving Hu Li with a sickly feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The first years were Sorted all too quickly. "Caparotta, Paolo," shouted McGonagall. Hu Li swallowed as she watched Paolo toss her a frightened look and stumble up to the hat. In 

moments that would be her.

There was a silence of about twenty seconds before the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" Everyone cheered as Paolo Camparotta walked off the platform to the Hufflepuff table.

"Zhang, Hu Li," barked McGonagall. Hu Li walked slowly up to the chair as if it were the gallows. She could hear Ron shouting, "Go, HL!" and Hermione saying to him loudly, "It's Hu Li, not HL!" She glanced over at the Slytherin table. Draco was watching her. He gave her a tentative smile and a thumbs-up, and she felt a little better.

Hu Li sat on the chair and stuffed the hat on her head. Immediately a voice said, "Hmm, interesting. Peculiar, very peculiar. You seem to have loyalty and ambition and bravery and a love of learning and knowledge. There's quite a bit of talent, yes, great physical and mental strength, and determination. I see cleverness and integrity and a mind beyond its years in wisdom. Well, Hu Li Zhang, I don't know what to say. You have the important traits of all four houses. Perhaps I'd better let you choose."

Her stomach dropped unpleasantly. Interesting – a moment ago, she didn't think she could ever feel sicker than she did then, and now look at her. "You want me to choose my own house? But – but I hardly even know the names, I -"

The hat said calmly, "How about Hufflepuff?"

"No, I don't think so," she said miserably. Somehow she didn't think lying to your friends meant loyalty was your best trait.

"What about Ravenclaw?"

"No," she replied. She may have had a love of knowledge, but she also knew that knowledge was a double-edged sword. Knowledge could be good and it could be bad. It could bring someone happiness and it could disillusion someone. She herself was a victim of both facets of knowledge. Sometimes it was better not to know.

"Slytherin?"

She hesitated. She thought of Draco, his sly, wistful face, his low, drawling voice, his kindness, his sarcasm. _He_ was in Slytherin. Ambition – she did have that, as well as cleverness. But something was telling her "NO!" Hu Li hesitated for just one more second before saying, "No, not Slytherin."

The hat sounded pleased as it said, "Then better make it GRYFFINDOR!"

Hu Li was almost numb with nerves as it yelled the last word, and as she made to pull the hat off, it said, "Good choice, Hu Li Zhang. I was going to pick Gryffindor for you myself, but I wanted to let you pick. Very good choice."

Hu Li walked dazedly to the Gryffindor table, where three red-haired Weasleys, Hermione, Harry, and Lee Jordan were cheering and clapping, and seated herself between Hermione and George.

As the announcements from the caretaker began, Ron whispered to Hu Li, "We thought you'd died under there, you were sitting there for so long. Almost a minute and a half before it picked."

But it didn't pick, Hu Li thought. I did.

Professor Dumbledore stood up after the caretaker. There was none of the usual joking twinkle in his bright blue eyes. He said seriously, "I believe Mr. Filch has covered many of the new rules for this year. There is nothing I would wish to add to that list. However, I would like to remind you that the Dark Lord is indeed rising to power again. This year, more than any of the others, is not the time to be disobeying school rules and wandering off to the Forbidden Forest or even to strange places in Hogsmeade. Third years and up, be very aware of your surroundings and the people near you when you visit Hogsmeade. I cannot tell you enough times to be careful. Lord Voldemort is very powerful and very, very dangerous."

He said a few more things of less serious tone, but Hu Li was thinking of his first announcement. Voldemort had killed her paternal grandparents when they were trying to infiltrate the organization of Death Eaters and spy for their side. The Aveta Kedavra Curse had killed them immediately – at least they had not been tortured for days like others – that was a condolence. The Dark Lord himself had killed them. That was why her father had chosen to become an Auror.

Harry interrupted her reverie by saying to her, "Oh yeah, we get to go visit Hogsmeade, you know."

"No, I didn't," she replied. "What's Hosmeade?"

"It's not a what, it's a where. It's a village made entirely of wizarding folk. It's brilliant! There's Honeydukes – they have the best sweets in Britain – they've got Feather Quills and Peppermint Toads and Cockroach clusters – oh, but don't get those, they're foul -"

Hu Li listened while he told her all about Hogsmeade and noticed that he had the most charming green eyes that she'd ever seen. Just as she was about to ask him about the owls in the post office, food suddenly appeared on their plates and on the tables.

Hu Li jumped. "What's this?" she exclaimed.

Harry said, "Oh, the house-elves send the food up by magic from the kitchen."

"Marvelous, I'm starving," said Ron, and began eating with gusto.

Hu Li looked down at her food. This is my first British dinner, she thought. "Er – 

Hermione?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes," responded Hermione.

"What is all this food?" said Hu Li plaintively.

Quickly Hermione pointed out kidney pie, mashed potatoes, beef stew, and something else of which Hu Li didn't quite catch the name and didn't dare eat. She ate the rest of it without much interest, wishing she could have some rice and steamed vegetables.

"What the hell is this?" said Fred Weasley farther down the table. Harry glanced over and said, "Hey, Hu Li, do you know what that is?"

She looked up and said in delight, "That's shrimp foo yong! Throw that down here, Fred. What's this doing in the kitchens of Hogwarts?"

"Bet Dumbledore sent instructions to the house-elves to make it especially for you," said Ron. "Seems like the sort of thing he'd do, doesn't it?" 

Hu Li ate a bite of shrimp foo yong happily. It didn't taste exactly like the stuff she ate in Hong Kong and China, but it was close enough for her. She looked up to say something across the table to Ron and froze.

Up at the teacher's table, Severus Snape was staring at her in a startled way. She stared back at him, knowing what he was thinking. _Dumbledore has always been known for letting all sorts into Hogwarts, but isn't that one going a bit far? After everything Sou Mei has done – everything that one is capable of?_ She stared at him, too frightened that he would reveal everything to even move. Then Professor McGonagall saw them staring at each other. The professor tapped Snape on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He relaxed very slightly, still looking warily at Hu Li. She mouthed, _Don't tell. _He looked at her for a moment and then nodded. She sighed with immense relief and mouthed, _Thank you._ Then she smiled at him, looked down, and began eating again.

Across the Great Hall Draco Malfoy was watching them.

Later, after the feast and a good-night announcement from Professor Dumbledore, the crowd of Gryffindors surged through the doors of the Great Hall and turned up the grand staircase. Hu Li followed Hermione, not knowing where she was going.

They ended up at a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink ball gown. "Password?" she said.

A seventh year prefect came hurrying through the crowd, crying, "New password is 'persnickety toast'! Prefect coming through! Excuse me!"

"Sounds like old Percy," said Ron. "My older brother," he explained to Hu Li. She smiled.

The crowd of Gryffindors poured into the common room. Most headed straight off to bed. Hu Li was interested in the common room, but Hermione said, "No, we've been up late and we've got school tomorrow. Let's go to bed!"

Reluctantly Hu Li followed Hermione up the girls' staircase. "No co-ed dorms?" inquired Hu Li slyly. 

Hermione sniffed, "Of course not! Now here we are, fifth year girls' dorms." She opened the door and they went through.

There were three other girls chatting and giggling amongst themselves as they got ready for bed. The talking stopped dead when they saw Hu Li.

One of them, a blonde girl, said with wide scared eyes, "Aren't you that transport from China?"

"No," replied Hu Li, wondering what her problem was, "I'm that trans_fer_ from _Hong Kong_, thank you."

Another girl with a long dark plait said solemnly, "We saw you get on the train and we wondered who you were."

"Wonder no longer," said Hu Li. "Hu Li Zhang. And you three are?"

They introduced themselves as Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Cecelia Feathersnip. Hu Li noticed they seemed wary of her, as if she would take out a knife and murder them horribly any moment. "Don't worry, I don't bite," Hu Li said cautiously. 

Parvati Patil looked right at her and said softly, "Oh, you don't?"

Hu Li felt a small shiver start at the base of her spine and work its way up. "What do you mean?" she said slowly. Beside her, Hermione tensed.

Cecelia Feathersnip said, "We know who you are, you know. You don't have to pretend any longer. And I just want you to know, I have garlic around my neck and a wooden stake under my pillow." She lifted her pillow and pulled out the stake.

Hu Li laughed nervously. "What is this?"

Lavender said, "We know your real name is Sou Mei, and you're a vampire." She held up a huge braid of garlic. "So stay back while I go warn the Headmaster."

Hu Li laughed heartily, Hermione joining in. "You think _I'm_ Sou Mei? Just because I'm Chinese? Really, this is too funny."

They stared at her as if she was ready for the nuthouse. "You're saying you're not a vampire?" said Cecelia dubiously.

"I'm saying I think the lot of you are incredible idiots!" She bent in half and yelled with laughter. "Sou Mei, what a gag!"

Parvati said, "Okay, prove you're not." The other two nodded.

Hu Li thought for a moment. "All right." She went over to Lavender and yanked the garlic from her and draped it over her shoulders. Then she crossed the room and stood in front of the large mirror that the fifth year girls shared and crossed her arms. "See the garlic? See my reflection? I'd do something else, but I really don't fancy plunging a wooden stake through my heart to see if I'd die, would you?"

The three glanced at each other doubtfully. "I guess we were wrong," said Lavender reluctantly. "When you got on the train – you just looked like a picture of the vampire that I'd seen somewhere before."

"Right," said Hu Li. "I know you British. You think all Asians look exactly alike. Take a few 

minutes to open up your eyes, so you can pick out the alive from the undead. And I certainly 

hope you're happy, because now my hair smells like garlic."

She and Hermione gave a few more giggles and then went to go brush their teeth. But as Hu Li looked up at the reflection of herself in the bathroom mirror, she thought, that was a close one.

***

She was dreaming.

Somewhere, deep in her psyche, she had the vague notion that what was happening was not real. But the constant pain – the fear – that was real. Pain, fear – they were old friends of hers.

She was in a dark dungeon, far below ground level. The only light came from a single torch on the wall. Somewhere, there was a dripping noise, and she thought of a dam of blood that was slowing cracking, bit by bit, about to break. Any minute now she would be covered in blood, rivers of blood.

She twisted, trying to break free of the chains that bound her to the wall before she drowned in the sea of blood. But it was useless. It was titanic uranium, the strongest substance on earth. Add the fact that they had starved her for nearly a week, and add the fact that they had beat her and tortured her – and she was never breaking the chains. 

She heard a noise, a patter of feet on the cold stone floor. It was a rat, she thought in fright, one of the huge man-eating rats that she had been heard about. These rats wouldn't wait before you were dead and buried to devour you – they would eat you alive, taking tiny nibbles at a time with their needle-sharp teeth so you'd stay alive until the very end. It was coming to eat her, sent by Jun Tao. She could hear it coming closer, and she wept with terror. 

The rat came closer into the small circle of light provided by the torch. It was a normal sized little rodent, probably as starved as she was. What was wrong with her? She was going mad. She could feel it. Her reason, her sanity, was slowing slipping away. One could only stand starvation and excruciating pain for so long before one went over the edge.

There were footsteps. She was definitely not imagining these. They were slow, meaningful, purposeful footsteps, descending the twisted stone staircase that led to her dungeon. She shivered with fear. This, she could sense weakly, was Jun Tao. She could not use her senses to their fullest – they had put a locking spell around her mind so she could not use her full powers, but she still 

had her instincts. The lock made her feel naked and exposed and weak and truly human. She was not accustomed to feeling so vulnerable, chained up both mentally and physically. This, especially, was why she was going mad. Of course, the torture bit helped too.

The footsteps crossed the room and stood just out of the torch's gleam. The only things she could see were the highly polished shoes and the glittering, malicious eyes. 

"Hu Li," said the low, harsh voice. "You have been here for nearly six days. You have been tortured brutally and beaten and starved."

She cut in, "Thanks for rubbing it in, jackass. I know what happened to me."

She heard him laugh, a low, evil sound. "It's good to see you have not lost your spirit, Hu Li. But that's also bad. It means we'll have to hurt you more. You know that if you tell us your secrets, we will just leave you be?"

She snarled, "I have nothing to tell _you_, Jun Tao. But when I get out of here, I will tell the world about the Mad Minister of China and his sick pleasures of torturing the innocent!"

He chuckled again. "Admirable ambition. But unless you tell me your secrets, you will never leave this dungeon. You will be tortured until you are dead or insane."

"I told you, there is nothing to tell. I don't know what you want me to say," she said, her voice cracking with fatigue and pain. It hurt to talk and even to breathe.

Jun Tao's voice sharpened. "I want you to tell us what you are – what makes you so different from the other half-bloods. The others must drink blood to survive. You do not have to. The others cannot stand direct and fierce sunlight. You can. You also have magic – you can pass for a witch, but the others cannot. You are just like a human – but more than human. You are an enhanced human, evolved and superior. You have the intellect and strength and mental powers and intuition and immunity of a vampire, but you need no blood and do not need to hide at mid-

day like the other half-bloods do."

"I don't know what makes me how I am!" she screamed at him. "I am what I am! Do you think I asked for this? Strength and mental powers and intuition – it's not always a gift! It's also a curse? Don't you understand?" she sobbed, knowing he did not.

"No," he said crisply. "I don't see what makes it so bad. We could create a new race of humans superior to the old kind if we had your knowledge. No sickness, humans that are smart and strong and psychic, humans that heal from every disease and every wound, humans that are the ultimate creation, the ultimate _triumph_ of mankind!" He stepped forward into the light, and she looked into the darkest depths of humanity, into eyes of the purest evil. "Don't _you_ understand?"

She **spat** in his face. "Go to hell, you miserable creature. I know nothing except that you are wrong and you are evil."

Jun Tao stared at her, the spit shining on his face. Then he whipped out a handkerchief and wiped the spittle slowly off. He said angrily, "You will pay dearly for that, bitch." He snapped his fingers.

A guard came forward. Jun Tao said, not taking his eyes off Hu Li's, "Burn a hole in her tongue. That will teach her to spit at the Minister of Magic." He smiled at her as the guard hurried off and she involuntarily began to shake violently. "You may heal from every wound," he said coolly, "but we both know that there is agony before there is healing."

She said evenly to Jun Tao, "You will be the one that pays. I will come after you and I will take my time killing you. It will be the sweetest pleasure I will ever take."

Jun Tao smiled at her one last time as the guard came back, bearing a red-hot iron in his hand. He said to the guard, "Leave the door open. I want to hear her scream."

The last thing Hu Li heard before she blacked out were the shrieks of incredible and ultimate suffering. 

It was only after she passed out before she realized they were her own.


	3. The Beautiful and the Damned

III – The Beautiful and the Damned

III – The Beautiful and the Damned 

Hu Li awoke with a start. She sat straight up in bed, shaking and breathing hard. It was a dream, she thought. It wasn't real – she was not reliving the lowest point of her life. But Jun Tao – Jun Tao was real. The evil and the horror that he embodied was real. The memory was real – she _had_ been tortured and starved for a full week before she had killed a guard and stolen his keys and escaped. Hu Li had been true to her word – she had eventually come after Jun Tao and killed him, slowly and sweetly, just as she has promised. But still he haunted her. 

She pulled back her bed curtains and peered out into the darkness. It must be nearly two-thirty or three. The night was in the blackest hours of its life. The moon had gone down and there was no light. But Hu Li didn't need light. She used her senses to bring her to the door, walking without a sound, and opening the door to the staircase. She knew there was no more sleeping tonight.

Unfortunately, she was new to the Hogwarts doors. This one let out a small but powerful squeak – not loud enough to wake the entire dorm, but loud enough to wake one person.

"Who's there?" hissed Hermione fiercely as she leaped out of bed, brandishing her wand as if Voldemort and his entire troupe of Death Eaters was crashing into their dorm to do battle with her alone. Then her wand lit up. "Hu Li! You scared me horribly, I didn't know _who_ it could be – and what are you doing? You _know_ Professor Dumbledore told us not to wander around."

Hu Li said feebly, "I was – I was going to the bathroom – shhh, be _quiet_ -"

Hermione said, "Going to the bathroom, indeed! I don't know what you're doing, but …"

Hu Li sighed. "I had – well, I had a nightmare and I was going to the common room to read."

Hermione softened at the words "nightmare" and "read". "Oh," she said softly. "What was the nightmare about?"

Hu Li gave an involuntary shudder. "I don't remember, but it was atrocious," she lied. 

Hermione looked closely at Hu Li. "You really don't remember?"

Hu Li told herself, watch it. You're treading a lake of paper-thin ice that is slowly cracking. This girl is perceptive. "Just that I was quite frightened," she said carefully, delicately probing Hermione's cautious feelings with the senses and the mind that were unnatural. With a start she remembered something Jun Tao said to her when she had first been brought into the Ministry. _You are unnatural. You were not part of Nature. Nature abhors you. You hold the key to far too many doors. The quandary is – will you have the power to unlock them?_

Suddenly she felt very tired, very drained. It was the dream, she knew – it had been incredibly painful for her. "I think I'll go back to bed," she murmured, almost to herself. "Yes, to bed."

Hermione said with concern, "Hu Li, are you sure you're all right?"

Hu Li looked at her. Concern was something she had only felt from her father, Wang, and Albus Dumbledore before now. But now, these four new friends she had made – they were simply overflowing with concern for her well-being and mental and physical health. Well, physically I'm fine, she thought. It's the mental part I'm not so sure about …

"Yes," she said. "I am merely very tired." She shut the door almost reverently and walked back to her bed, making sure to walk with some noise like the humans did. "Good night, Hermione. Sweet dreams." She felt a cackle of laughter or perhaps a flood of tears that was rising slowly in her throat. Maybe she was mad. It made her slightly regretful but not ultimately sad, as if sanity were just a cheap toy she had lost somewhere but didn't really care about.

"Good night," Hermione said softly. "Dream well."

And if I don't, thought Hu Li darkly, you'll likely find me in the morning, dangling from the ceiling beams with a noose wrapped round my throat, or asleep in a warm bath with two razor nicks at my wrists. How awful, she thought, and then, out of pure exhaustion, dropped off into Morpheus' welcoming arms.

*

The gods were merciful. She had no more dreams that night, or at least none she remembered. She hoped regretfully that she would not have to resort to the Dreamless Sleep Potion that she had gotten herself nearly addicted to in China. Perhaps she was going through withdrawal.

Hermione woke her at an ungodly hour and said briskly, "Get up, get up, we've got to eat breakfast, then get our schedules and come back here for books, then to our first class. And I won't be late for any of it!"

Groaning and muttering to herself, Hu Li slithered sleepily out of bed and into her nice black Hogwarts robes. They were quite warm; thank heavens, because though there was a blazing fire in the common room, it felt like Antarctica in the fifth year girls' dorm. She was susceptible to heat and cold, even though it did not affect her much. It was, however, very uncomfortable.

Hermione rushed her down to breakfast and sat her down at the end of the Gryffindor table, propping her up with George Weasley's elbow. Drowsily she said, "So how are breakfasts here at Howarts?"

"Simply smashing!" declared George, digging into a mountain of food on his plate. "Delicious! Hearty and filling, and a good thing, too, looks like I've got Herbology out in the greenhouses first."

"Is it always this cold here in September?" said Hu Li, attempting to sit up on her own. Or did 

I just bring seven plagues and bad luck with me, she wondered. 

"No, it's usually fairly chilly here," said Fred cheerily. "Except summer."

Hu Li managed to sit up and put a piece of toast and some fruit on her plate. "Oh," she said, yawning lazily. "Wonderful." She smiled at Harry and Ron, who had just wandered down from their dorm.

Just then there was a thunder of wings. Hu Li looked up to see hundreds of owls came swooping into the Great Hall, carrying parcels and letters in their claws. Hu Li resumed eating. She was sure that if anyone back in China or Hong Kong had written to her, it would not have arrived yet. She was surprised, therefore, when a tawny owl swooped down and dropped a letter nearly into her plate. It landed on her shoulder, but she barely noticed the sharp talons. She was looking at the letter.

She turned to the owl and said softly, "From whom did this come?"

The owl blinked its wise amber eyes and looked up at the High Table and at Albus Dumbledore. She muttered, "Why would he…?" She looked down at the letter again. There was 

a small note on the envelope in careful but distinctive handwriting. _Do not open this at the table._

Hu Li looked at the owl once more – into the fathomless amber eyes and at the long, powerful wings and the sharp talons. She wished almost without thinking for the freedom of the owl. Then it gently nipped her finger and took flight once again, soaring off and out of the window.

Hu Li took a piece of toast and the letter and absently walked out of the Great Hall, telling Hermione, Harry, and Ron that she left something upstairs. She went into the quiet entrance hall and leaned against the wall, munching the toast and turning the letter over and over.

Hu Li had a feeling she knew what this letter would contain, and she was dreading opening it. She had not been lying to Professor McGonagall – she did not have faith in herself to perform her job well. But she knew Dumbledore did – and that hurt, because she feared letting him down. She didn't think she would have the courage and the luck and the diplomacy to do the deed – and she had a feeling that she may not come out of it alive.

Slowly, she opened the envelope. Something fell out of it and onto the floor with a small clang, and she picked it up and looked at it. It was a small gold medallion on a thin gold chain. The medallion was shaped like a many-pointed star. On the front it read, "Morituri te salutamus".On the back, Strength and Honor. Is that what Dumbledore considered her – a gladiator? She smiled and opened the piece of parchment in the envelope.

The letter read:

_Dear Hu Li,_

_I have spoken with Minerva McGonagall and she has told me of your doubt to perform _

_your mission well. Have no doubt – it will only hinder you. I have every ounce of faith in you that you will do admirably. You are a rare and amazing girl – but you need to realize that. Have faith in yourself. You are braver than you believe yourself to be. _

_I have received word from the Nations that they have agreed to meet with you. North America has informed me that they will be unable to send someone over, as they have a small crisis with Muggles- something about a new Hollywood film._

_However, I have ten other leaders of the Nations who wish to speak with you. They have agreed to meet you in the Three Broomsticks tomorrow night. They have been given strict instructions not to feed from anyone in Hogsmeade, as that would attract attention to the mission. I am allowing you to say whatever you see fit, but I ask you only to emphasize that we wish to join hands with them, not fight against them._

_I have the deepest trust that you will prove yourself an excellent emissary and diplomat to the noble but misunderstood race of creatures known as vampires._

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I have enclosed a pendant that a Roman gladiator by the name of Lamia once wore. She was a dignified and brave woman who later proved instrumental in crushing a war between wizards and vampires, though she lost her own life doing so. She was a diplomat as well as a gladiator, and she was also a half-blood like you. I have faith that you will be as great as Lamia was in your dealings with the vampires. Good luck._

Hu Li sighed and leaned against the wall, feeling slightly ill. Tomorrow night she would be sitting down at the table of brotherhood with ten of the world's greatest and most deadly beings on earth. She closed her eyes. And she was one of them.

There was a light sound as of a paper wafting to the floor. Hu Li bent down and picked up another sheet of parchment with Professor Dumbledore's handwriting on it. She read:

_Asia:_

_Nirupam Singh, India and Keiko Kishi, Japan_

_Australia:_

_Anita Crowe, Queensland and Kalgoorlie Dirranbandi, Western Australia_

_Europe:_

_Niccolo Alighieri, Italy and Kirsten Erikson, Sweden_

_Africa:_

_Muntunge Kironyo, Ghana and Phillip Smith-Felperin, South Africa_

_South America:_

_Luis Perone, Argentina, and Juliana Anatuya, Brazil_

She thought, this must be a list of the ten diplomats whom I'll meet tomorrow night. She smiled at the Italian name. Old Niccolo, as he was respectfully called, had always been very kind to her, as a friend of her father's. She had also met Keiko Kishi and Phillip Smith-Felperin once before. She liked Keiko, but Phillip was rather stuffy. The other five vampires, she did not know. At least there would be one very familiar face. Old Niccolo was a vampire about five hundred years old, and he had been trying to work for better wizard-vampire relations for at least three hundred years. Hu Li sincerely hoped he would not be disappointed tomorrow night.

A faint and sudden noise put her instantly on her guard. Hu Li turned quickly and faced Draco Malfoy, standing right behind her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, somehow managing to stuff the letter and the medallion into her pocket. "What were you thinking, creeping around like a thief? You startled me!" she said angrily.

Draco merely looked at her with those sly eyes. "I just wanted to see how your hands were, after the firecracker incident. And I wanted to apologize for Goyle."

"Oh," she said stupidly, and held them out. "Don't worry about it, I didn't even get burned."

He stared at her hands ands said sharply, "You didn't?" Hu Li shook her head, understanding his confusion.

Still he stared at her. "I could have sworn …"

"What?" she inquired innocently.

"Nothing," Draco said, shaking his head. Smoothly he added, "Why don't you wear you hair down?"

"I – what?" she said distractedly. "My hair?" Hu Li thought about her hair on the average of about ten seconds a day. "What's wrong with it?" she said indignantly.

"Not a thing," Draco said lightly. "It looks great in that bun, but I just wanted to know what it looked like down." Deftly he pulled out the ivory chopsticks securing her hair in place. It poured down around her face like a shiny black waterfall.

"Long," he said brilliantly. "Very long."

"Yes – I haven't cut it in years." It was true – her hair reached nearly to the small of her back – just as Sou Mei's did. That was why she wore it up – long hair was so impractical. 

He nodded, still watching the way light shimmered off the smooth black surface. "Beautiful," Draco murmured, almost to himself.

Hu Li felt herself flushing slightly. "That's enough," she said coolly. "Let me have my chopsticks."

Draco watched as Hu Li whipped her hair back into the bun and dexterously stuck the chopsticks into it in a total of four seconds. He raised an eyebrow. "Impressive …for a Gryffindor."

"That's me," Hu Li replied. She turned and strode back into the Great Hall, leaving Draco looking after her.

***

Hu Li went back upstairs with Hermione, Harry, and Ron to get their books. Their first class today happened to be Potions. Hu Li wasn't really looking forward to it – Potions had not been her thing back in Hong Kong. 

"What did you choose to take this year?" Hermione asked her. 

"I think I picked Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy but I can't really remember," said Hu Li. 

Hermione gaped at her. "Can't remember? But – it's so important!" 

Hu Li shrugged. "Oh well," she said. It didn't matter to her. She could be top student if she wanted to – but she didn't. She didn't think it was fair of her, just because she had been born with abilities others didn't have. 

Hermione muttered to herself under her breath as they retrieved their Potions stuff, then dragged it down into Snape's dungeon. 

He was standing at the blackboard, watching them file in. When he saw Hu Li, he 

automatically looked down. Hu Li sighed. Severus Snape had, in fact, been a friend of her father's. But first, he had been a friend of her mother's, Sou Mei, the oldest and the most feared vampire that walked the earth. The Phoenix, as they called her in the East, because though she had been stuck in many death-traps by many experienced Aurors, she always seemed to be reborn – or escape. 

Hu Li went with Harry and Ron and Hermione to four tables at the back of the room, far away from Severus Snape. Snape, evidently remembering her mother, kept glancing nervously at her, as if she were a time bomb about to explode. Maybe he was right, she thought. Maybe I am a time bomb. 

The lesson began. Snape drew himself up to his full dictatorship and spat, "So. Another year of joy, with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins in one room." Hu Li looked over to the other side of the room in surprise. She hadn't even realized that the Slytherins were with them. But there they were, most of them wearing sneers. Perhaps Ron and Harry were right about the Slytherins, she thought, they certainly looked like an evil lot. 

Snape continued, "I shall enjoy seeing which of you will do well in Potions," and here he threw an almost-smile at Draco, who looked steadily back, "and which of you will fail miserably." He stared at a small, plump boy that Hu Li remembered as Neville Something-or Other. 

"Longbottom," Snape said, looking at Neville. Hu Li sat up. Longbottom? Poor boy! She knew about his parents – insane in a hospital here in Britain. Hu Li closed her eyes. Snape continued, "I will be especially interested in you this year. It will be amusing to see if your Potions grade could possibly sink lower than it was last year." The Slytherins laughed nastily and Snape opened his mouth to say something else. Hu Li couldn't bear it any longer. 

"Please, sir," she said coolly. "Are you really that sadistic that you wish to bring Neville 

any more misery? From the looks of it, he's suffered this sort of treatment for four years now. 

Don't you think it's time to find a new victim?" 

There was dead silence. Some of the Slytherins wore the beginnings of nasty grins, as if they sensed that she was going to be turned into a frog any minute now. The Gryffindors had shocked looks on their faces. 

Snape said slowly, "Are you volunteering, Zhang?" However, he did not say it with the usual nastiness. 

She replied, "Not exactly. But if you really want to torture me … who am I to stop you?" 

Snape drew a breath and said quietly not impolitely, "I don't wish to hear anything more. Please be quiet, Zhang." 

Hu Li was suddenly aware of nearly the whole class turning to stare at her. She leaned over to Hermione and muttered, "What did I do?" 

Hermione whispered back, "Well, you see, you've just destroyed a common Hogwarts truth. Severus Snape was just polite to a Gryffindor." 

But not because I was a Gryffindor, Hu Li thought. Because he thinks I am as dangerous as Sou Mei. That's what he is afraid of – Sou Mei's legacy. 

The lesson meandered on. Snape did not make any more snide remarks to Neville or indeed anyone else and kept glancing tensely at her. This made Hu Li rather uncomfortable. When the lesson was over, she waited until everyone had filed out of the Potions classroom, urging her friends on. Then she walked up to Snape's desk. 

She cleared her throat and he jumped about a foot and stared at her with wild eyes. "Oh, er, Zhang – yes, what did you – why – oh, where did I leave my -" 

"Your wand, sir?" said Hu Li. "It's in your pocket." 

"Ah, yes." He found it rather sheepishly. Hu Li was not used to a nervous Snape. It was 

disconcerting. It seemed that when she was alone with him, he became very agitated. 

"Professor," Hu Li said tentatively. "I wanted to tell you that you have no reason to fear me. I am not truly Sou Mei's daughter – only by blood. We are entirely different people, and as I am not the cruel, bloodsucking daughter she wished for, I haven't seen her for twelve years. She left me when I was three." 

Snape looked at her. "You aren't like Sou Mei?" 

Hu Li snorted. "For starters, I don't need to drink blood, and I certainly don't kill people." Jun Tao was the exception – if that fiend could even be considered a person. Personally, she didn't think so. He deserved far more than he got – she was far too merciful to him. 

Snape relaxed slightly. "I was wondering why Dumbledore let a vampire in." 

"I imagine he wouldn't if I needed to feed off blood," she said. "But I don't. And he _definitely_ wouldn't if I was like Sou Mei – a school full of children would be like an all-night free buffet to her." 

He shuddered. "If there's one thing I hate," he muttered, "it's Sou Mei. No offense," he added. 

"None taken," replied Hu Li. "I know some of the horrid things she's done to you, and there are probably scores worse that I don't know about. I'm talking about back in Voldemort's day, when you and her were both Death Eaters." 

Snape's black eyes narrowed. "The darkest days of my life," he hissed. 

"Tell me about darkest days," she said gloomily. "You must relive them, dream of them, over 

and over again. They must haunt you like they haunt me, the grinning specters of the lowest points of living that are worse even then death itself." 

Snape looked directly at her and she saw something in his eyes that Harry Potter could never 

have imagined: compassion. "I have been told that it is our suffering that makes us who we are," he said softly. "But since it was your mother who told me that while she was holding a knife to my throat …" 

"Don't take it to heart," said Hu Li. "I am sure she will tell me some wise little dictum like that when she comes back to kill me." 

Snape said curiously, "What do you mean? Is this related to how your parents married?" 

"Oh, you didn't know?" she said miserably. "The vampire Sou Mei decided sixteen years that she wanted to produce a child that was a half-blood. She has many other full-vampire children, from many different vampire husbands, but this one, she wanted to be only half. She disguised herself as the daughter of a dead Chinese businessman and married my father. After I was born, it quickly it became apparent that I was not the vicious half-vampire that Sou Mei had longed for. She grew angry, revealed herself as the vampire Sou Mei, and left my father and I forever. I was three years old. However, she did not leave before swearing to my father that she would come back one day for her daughter and fight the final battle with her. Therefore he trained me in both Eastern and Western forms of combat. But still I have a feeling that when the final showdown comes, it will not be Hu Li Zhang who emerges the victor." 

Snape looked at her sympathetically. She went on, "And that's about where you come in. Though this was not known to my father until a few years after the Dark Lord's fall, Sou Mei was Voldemort's most respected and loved follower. She stood at his side through his whole reign of terror. That is how she knew you – when you were a Death Eater. When you left the circle of Death Eaters forever, Sou Mei went after you. Correct?" 

"Yes," he said wretchedly. "Why did she allow me to live? I am only haunted by my deeds." 

Hu Li told him sadly, "That's the point. She decided to leave you alive to live with the guilt of

your many murders and other evil deeds – Sou Mei is very familiar with the ways of humans.She too left the Death Eaters after Voldemort's fall. She is the master of disguise, a virtuoso at lies and deception and murder. She has been in hiding for eleven years, showing herself occasionally to wizards and Muggles alike. Of course, then she kills them." 

Snape nodded, "Dumbledore told me that not all vampires kill their victims. I believe he said it's only necessary to take a small amount of blood to be sated for at least two weeks. But some, like Sou Mei, take pleasure in sucking the last drops of life from a human, claiming that the human's fear of impending death and the rush of adrenaline gave the blood an irresistible flavor." He shuddered and stared at her. "You look much like Sou Mei, you know," he said quietly. "Has that caused you problems before?" 

Hu Li thought of Parvati, Lavender, and Cecelia. "Yes," she replied sadly. "Most unfortunately." The three Gryffindor girls had been right. She did look like Sou Mei. But Sou Mei's face had a cold, immortal beauty that Hu Li's would never know, simply because Hu Li could never aspire to be Sou Mei. Sou Mei had an impressive aura of danger and power and infinite wisdom that no one on earth could duplicate. And she had strangely blue eyes – eyes like two chips of blue ice that stared right through someone - eyes like two cold sapphires that were unmistakably wicked. Suddenly Hu Li did not feel that she would be able to speak to the ten ambassadors tomorrow night. She didn't think she had it in her – neither the strength nor the honor. She was too fearful of Sou Mei. 

Hu Li said, almost to herself, "The Chinese translation of Sou Mei is '_the celebration of long life and everlasting beauty_'. I have always thought it all too fitting." 

"Indeed," murmured Snape. "Indeed." 


	4. Strength and Honor

IV – Strength and Honor 

IV – Strength and Honor

The day continued without too many other incidents. Hu Li discovered after Potions that she did indeed take Arithmancy, and she found Hoi Sin chicken for herself at dinner. The rest of the day progressed nicely until about eight at night. 

Hu Li was sitting in the warm common room with Harry, Hermione, and Ron, attempting to do her homework. Suddenly she threw down her pencil and cried, "I'm spent! I'm going for a walk down to the kitchens to see if the house-elves have any more of that _magnificent_ chicken." 

She hurried out before anyone could ask to come with her. In fact she was not headed to the kitchens but to Albus Dumbledore's office. 

It took her nearly twenty minutes to find the statue of the gargoyle that Ron and Harry had pointed out early that day, telling her the password was "Cockroach Clusters." 

Hu Li quickly discovered this was an outdated password. She muttered to herself as she looked up and down the corridors, praying no teachers had the desire for a late-night snack. 

"Okay," she said. "Sugar Quills. Peppermint Toads. Toffee Creams." None of these proved valid. 

"Fizzing Whizbees," she tried, recalling more Honeydukes delights. Not the password. 

"Acid Pops," she said next. The gargoyle didn't budge. She lost patience and delivered an angry kick to the stone statue. 

"Licorice Wands! Drooble's Best Blowing Gum! Blood Suckers!" she bellowed. 

The gargoyle sprang to the life at the last two words and opened. Hu Li blinked. "_Blood Suckers?"_ Harry had told her those were the blood-flavored lollipops for vampires, located in the Unusual Tastes section. 

Hu Li climbed carefully through the opening, thinking, Blood Suckers, how ironic. 

She made her way down the dim hallway, wondering how she was supposed to know which door was his. It had been mere chance that Harry and Ron had pointed out the statue leading here. She hoped they hadn't been joking around. 

She came to an open door that showed a round, pleasant, well-lit room with Dumbledore bent over a desk. Ah, she thought. Thank heavens. 

Hu Li knocked on the open door. The old professor looked up and smiled. "Hu Li," he said. "I've been expecting you. Please come in." 

Hu Li seated herself in the chair to which he pointed. "You wanted to see me?" Dumbledore asked, smiling. 

"I did," she said hesitatingly. Unconsciously her hand stole into her pocket and fingered the medallion and the letter like a guilty secret. "I don't think I am quite the right person for the job," she said hurriedly, and bowed her head. 

There was a short silence from Dumbldore. "Why?" he asked gently. 

Hu Li looked up, startled. "Because – because I don't think I have the courage and the words to tell the emissaries what I feel," she confessed softly. "And here, please take this back." She placed the gold medallion on his desk. "I don't think I could ever deserve this." 

Dumbledore looked at her intently. "You don't?" 

Hu Li sighed and put her head in her hands. Suddenly she had an awful headache. "No. I have been worrying all summer that I will not be able to represent you and every other wizard in the world adequately, but I convinced myself that your faith was all I needed. Now, with the prospect of facing ten diplomats in less than a day and convincing them that we need to join hands to fight against Voldemort – well, I'm just afraid I won't do you justice. I wish you would go yourself." 

Dumbledore said, "I told you before I wanted someone who was half-vampire and half-wizard so both parties would be equally present in the emissary. The vampires may also feel more comfortable with you, as they are familiar with your case and sympathize deeply with you." He looked at her calmly and said, "Why did you agree to take the assignment?" 

"Because," she said softly, her head still in her hands, "because I think that it's high time that both wizards and vampires laid down their weapons, both physical and mental, and embraced each other as the brothers and sisters we are. Just because one race must take blood to survive, and just because one race uses magic to survive – neither are reasons for hate and war. The vampires have long considered themselves to be far superior to humans because of their longevity and strength and mental powers that they are so busy looking down at humans that they don't look at them, at who they are. And the wizards are so busy elevating themselves from other non-magical creatures and calling the vampires _killers_ and _monsters_ and _freaks of nature_ that they don't realize that many of the non-magical creatures are powerful in their own way and that most vampires never kill anyone to feed. I want them all to know that there can be peace and friendship. I only hope it will be before we destroy each other and allow Voldemort to rise again." She closed her eyes, feeling suddenly dizzy. 

Dumbledore spoke. "If you tell the ten diplomats what you just told me," he said, "they will be signing peace treaties before dessert." 

Hu Li looked up at him. "You're still making me talk to them?" 

"Yes," he said gently. "I do not need to have any faith in you, Hu Li, because I know with all my heart that you will do well." 

Hu Li looked at him for a moment and then said offhandedly, "By the way, I don't believe I will be dining with the rest of the school in the Great Hall tomorrow night. I have an 

appointment to keep at the Three Broomsticks." 

Dumbledore smiled down at some papers on his desk, his blue eyes twinkling, as Hu Li turned to go. Then he said after her, "I believe you've forgotten something." He rose and, walking around his desk, placed Lamia's medallion in Hu Li's hand and closed her fingers around it. "Remember, Hu Li," the professor said softly, "you have the heart of a gladiator." 

Hu Li nodded and whispered, "Thank you, Professor." She walked out of his office with Lamia's pendant around her neck. 

When she returned to the common room, Ron looked up and said, "Good _God_, Hu Li, did you eat one chicken or the whole flock? You've been gone nearly an hour." 

"It took me a while to find the kitchens," Hu Li replied. "And … there was someone I had to see." 

"Well, who was it?" demanded Ron, looking irritable, although that may have been because he was slaving over several large books about Undetectable Poisons. 

"Er – it was McGonagall," Hu Li lied, "about my papers to go into Hogsmeade. She's allowing me to go down to Hogsmeade tomorrow for dinner at the pub there with my father. She says it's because he had some business around here and it's only for a few hours anyway." 

Ron, Hermione, and Harry looked immediately jealous at this. "You get to go to Hosmeade to see your father?" said Harry. 

Hu Li nodded, feeling guilty. "I think it was the whole transfer-student-who-never-sees-her- father bit," she said unhappily. "It won't be much fun." 

"_Won't be much fun_?" said Ron a little too loudly. "Eating in the Three Broomsticks – then going to Honeydukes and Zonko's Joke Shop and Dervish and Banges with your dad – I'd trade places with you any time!" 

Hu Li sat down. "My dad will probably have a ten-minute dinner with me, then rush me back to the castle because he's got to work," she said, trying to make them feel better, although she knew her father would never do that to her – were she really having dinner with him tomorrow evening. 

Hermione smiled. "So you should be back quickly?" 

"Well," Hu Li said uneasily, because she knew it would take more than "quickly" to persuade some suspicious vampires into agreeing to get along with the wizards, "I don't know." She picked up one of Ron's books. "Oh, good, I was wondering where I'd ever find anything on – um – nightshade." 

No one said anything else to her that evening about it, but Hu Li could sense the looks Ron and Harry exchanged – the ones that said, why do some people have all the luck? 

Hu Li went to bed that night feeling very guilty. 

*** 

Hu Li woke up at about six in the morning and lay in bed, feeling determined and nervous and slightly nauseous. She knew that if the vampires desired, they could kill her in five minutes. She knew, of course, that Old Niccolo or Keiko would not, or most of the others, but she had heard strange things about Luis Perone. He was said to have been utterly merciless back in his younger days – he was probably about a thousand by now – and reformed only within the last century, thanks to Old Niccolo. She had heard her father saying that even the Elder vampires did not like to get Luis angry. She wasn't sure if he had completely reformed, especially since some younger vampires were more and more and Old Niccolo was trusting him less and less. She also knew that there were several in the crowd tonight that were prepared to argue with her about her every point, because they firmly believed that vampires and humans could and should never 

interact. Anita Crowe and Muntunge Kironyo, she knew, were very against human/vampire cooperation. 

Hermione stirred. Hu Li stayed still, staring at the top of her canopy, while Hermione got out of bed and left the room after opening some of her dresser drawers. Gone to the bathroom to wash up and dress, Hu Li decided. She sighed and rolled out of bed as well. 

Dressing in her Hogwarts robes, she stared into the mirror that the Gryffindor girls shared. She did not particularly enjoy what she saw. She did have her father's dark eyes, but she had Sou Mei's high cheekbones, straight, elegant nose, full mouth, and smoothly arched eyebrows. All she needed were blue eyes and a smirk. 

The girl she saw looked too scared to be the vampire Sou Mei. She looked small and sad. Hu Li tried one of Sou Mei's classic sneers, a wicked smile and a lift of an eyebrow that said to a man: I'm going to kiss you and love you and then drain every drop of blood from your body. It was frightening how much like her mother she looked. Hu Li thought, I could pose as Sou Mei and no one would ever know the difference. The thought terrified her. 

She fled down to the Great Hall and thought no more of her uncanny resemblance to a monster. 

***

Hu Li swallowed as she waited outside Professor McGonagall's office. She had worried through several classes and lunch. Now it was six-thirty and nearly time to meet with the ten ambassadors. 

"Come in," called McGonagall. Hu Li entered and stood before McGonagall's desk. 

McGonagall squinted at her. "You don't look well, Zhang," she said. "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle this?" 

Strength, she told herself. Remember Lamia. Make your father proud. "Yes," she managed. 

"All right," said McGonagall doubtfully. "I'm going to give you a Port Key that should take you to right outside the Three Broomsticks. Wait in the little entrance hall. The delegates will travel by mind and should get there very soon. Oh, and Zhang," she said. 

"Yes, Professor?" said Hu Li nervously as she put the hood on her traveling cloak up. It was bitter cold out tonight. 

McGonagall looked at her with a curious pity in her eyes. "Good luck, and whatever you do, don't upset them – especially Luis." 

Hu Li inhaled and nodded. Thanks for the encouragement, Professor Doomsday, she thought mentally. 

McGonagall nodded to a tattered orange hat on her desk. "Pick up the hat, then" she said. 

Hu Li obeyed, and she felt the familiar pulling sensation and a whooshing of cold wind. At least the stupid travel cloak is wool, she though as she gritted her teeth and held onto the hat. 

She was tossed to the hard ground, still holding the hat. A tipsy old woman, standing over her, hiccupped and said, "That's not the best place to lie down, dearie," before she stumbled away. 

Hu Li stood up, brushing off her cloak and wincing as her ass started to throb. Great, she thought. She looked up and saw a small wooden sign. The Three Broomsticks, it read. She went 

inside. 

There was no one in the entrance hall except one man, snoring peacefully in a corner. She took a seat on the hard, rickety little chairs and listened to the happy hullabaloo from inside the pub. She felt suddenly angry, thinking, while these people are enjoying a pint of mulled mead with the friends and neighbors and catching up on the village gossip, I'll be drinking from the cup of life and pleading with ten vampires for peace and cooperation. What a life. 

There was suddenly a small whoosh of displaced air and a rustling of cloth, and Hu Li looked up at ten tall, cloaked apparitions. She stood. 

"Well," she said calmly, "shall we?" 

The figures glanced at each other and then, by some secret signal, pushed back their cloaks. Old Niccolo winked at her, Keiko smiled, Phillip nodded stiffly, and the rest of them inclined their heads slightly. 

"Hello," she heard herself saying, and was amazed at how collected she sounded. God, she was an absolute wreck inside. "I'm Hu Li Zhang, representing Albus Dumbledore." She smiled at them. "Why don't we get a table and some drinks, and then we'll talk business?" 

They followed Hu Li through the pub, and some people stopped talking to stare at them. Hu Li was aware of the strange picture they made – ten grave, cloaked figures from all four corners of the world, following a small but determined girl, cloaked as well. Hu Li saw a very large man with a huge beard staring at her intently with beetle-black eyes. 

They seated themselves at a large circular table that was farther away from the others. The orders for drinks were delivered to Madam Rosmerta. Hu Li knew that vampires could, but did not have to, take human food, but she noticed that most of the orders were for a certain very fine wine. Vampires tended to be either the essence of culture – or the embodiment of depravity. Two sides of the same coin, she reminded herself, and not always just for vampires. Culture and depravity – just look at Jun Tao. 

After the drinks were ordered, the vampires looked at her expectantly. She briefly touched Lamia's pendant and then said, "Well, if you could just go round the table and state your names." Hu Li nodded to the lovely dark-skinned girl next to her. 

"Muntunge Kironyo," she said detachedly, and the rest of them quickly stated their names 

when their turn had come too. 

The last to speak, a tall, handsome young man with arrogant eyes and a sneer, stood up. "Luis Perone," he rumbled. "And no one told me that Dumbledore was sending a _child_ to do an important job for him. Is that all we are worth – a student at his little school?" He stared at her keenly, a smile twitching the edges of his lips. "Aren't you scared of all us big bad vampires, little girl?" 

Hu Li sucked in a breath and stared back at him, saying softly, "Don't you know who I am?"

Juliana Anantuya, who was from South America like Lui, said to him sharply, "Luis, this is the Phoenix's daughter - Sou Mei's daughter – the half-blood." 

Luis sill stared at her, those cruel mocha eyes twinkling lecherously. "Oh, she is, is she?" he murmured. "I love Chinese ladies." He licked his lips. 

Hu Li informed him coolly, "I believe you have been instructed not to feed from anyone in Hosmeade, Mr. Perone, and that includes the emissary. Now if we could begin?" 

The others nodded and Luis fell silent, but still stared at Hu Li with his hungry eyes. P.

Hu Li waited until their drinks were set down with a smile by Madam Rosmerta and then began, "I was sent here to talk to you about the importance of good relations between humans and vampires. I assume you have all been informed of this?" She glanced at Luis, who nodded sulkily. 

Hu Li went on, "But I am not just some crackerjack diplomat that Dumbledore sent purely for kicks or to insult you. I have a wholehearted interest in the vampire/human relations – for reasons that most of you know. My friends, I am trapped between two worlds – the wizard and the vampire. All my life I have bee shunned by members of both races and tossed back and forth between worlds like an unwanted doll. I have been beaten, spit upon, called names, excluded, 

and even tortured because of what I am – because of something I have no control over. The humans won't have me because I am unnatural, because I am a 'freak,' and because they are afraid of me. The vampires won't have me because I am mortal, because I am 'tainted,' and because they are afraid of me, too. Society abhors the misfit, you know – every society. I am a misfit in every society." She bows her head. "That is why I want the human/ vampire relatiosn to change for the better. We are kindred, the wizards and the vampires. We are family in the truest sense of the word – in the sense that no one can choose their family, but they must simply learn to deal with and cooperate with them to achieve a balance. There is no reason that the Vampire Nations should not accept the olive branch that Albus Dumbledore is extending." 

There was a pause. Then Phillip took off his glasses and said primly, "Why would we wish to condescend to making peace with humans? What have they to offer us?" 

Hu Li answered, "I know that many of the vampires of the world belonged to the Death Eaters when the Dark Lord was in power. But the wizards can offer you that which Lord Voldemort can and will not ever, ever give you: freedom. Voldemort treated the vampires like the lowest types of slaves, forcing us to do his dirty work – killing when he couldn't be bothered and so forth. Talk about condescending! And in return for the meager lives you wiped out, he would give you blood from a Muggle that he had no use for." Hu Li looked around the table. "All of us at know that it is not in the nature of the vampire to take what we have not hunted ourselves. But still we allowed our senses to grow weak and dulled as Lord Voldemort fed us manufactured quarry. Vampires were not meant to grow fat on homegrown meats. We were meant to hunt for out prey. Voldemort took advantage of you! He manipulated you! He weakened your trust and sense of fellowship with each other! And yet, there are still those of us who are lying in wait for the day that he will rise again to power." Hu Li sat back. "We can not allow that day to come, my friends. We must join to together, as friends, and fight against the Dark Lord. Divided, we are powerless. But together, we are strong." 

None of the vampires spoke. Some sipped their drinks. Phillip lit a French cigarette. Then Muntunge cried out, "What if she is lying to us? What is she is trying to trick us? What if they are attempting to enslave and dominate out race?" 

Hu Li replied, "If Albus Dumbledore wished to dominate the vampires, I don't think he'd be asking me, a half-vampire myself, to help him - especially when my kindred and some of my closest friends were the ones being enslaved. Besides, no offense to the wizards," and she lowered her voice, "but I think if they wanted to dominate the vampire race, they'd need a hell of a lot more than a fifteen year old girl to do it." 

Nirupam Singh smiled and asked, "Just a quick question, Hu Li. Why do you sometimes use the word 'us' when you talk of yourself and we vampires, but also use the word 'us' when he refer to yourself and the wizards?" 

Hu Li replied sadly, "It is what I said before. I am stuck in limbo between two worlds. I do not know which side of me is more powerful – the human or the vampire. Always, I am both, or neither." 

She glanced at them. "Remember that though in your hearts you may already have decided, nothing is set in stone tonight. This meeting is only to ask you to meet with the wizard emissaries." 

"Will you be there, Miss Hu Li?" said Old Niccolo quietly as he sipped his wine. 

"I suppose it could be arranged," she said, smiling at him. She went on, "I am only asking the Nations for their cooperation at this point. The only decision that must be made tonight is if you are willing to meet with the wizard ambassadors." 

They looked at her. Hu Li went on, "I am going to allow you to confer with each other, but before I leave, are there any more questions?" 

"Yeah," said a gruff voice behind her. "Who in blazes are yeh talkin' to?" 

Hu Li turned and found herself staring at someone's enormous belt buckle. Slowly she raised her eyes into the hairy face of the man who had been staring at her earlier. 

"Er," she stuttered, and then said to the vampires, "come and get me when you're through." Hu Li then allowed herself to be pulled across the pub to a small table where the large man had been sitting. 

"Now, Hu Li," he said briskly, "Who're yeh talkin' to? Aren't yeh s'posed to be up a' school?" 

She said politely, "Sorry, but do I know you?" 

"No, but I know who yeh are," he said, sitting down and gesturing her to do the same. "I'm Hagrid, the gamekeeper a' Hogwarts. Dumbledore din't tell yeh 'bout me?" 

"Oh!" she said. "Yes! I do know who you are!" She glanced around and lowered her voice. "These are the ten diplomats," she hissed. "I'm trying to convince them to meet with our emissaries." 

"Arrh," he said knowingly. "Yeah, Dumbledore mentioned that to me. How's it going?" 

"Not bad," she said nervously. "What are you doing down in Hogsmeade, anyway?" 

Hagrid replied, "Yeh see, there's a Gryffindor lass whose auntie was jus' killed in a freak accident. She was allowed supper and the fun'ral with her family. I had to bring her down." 

"Oh dear," said Hu Li. "Who was it?" 

Just then, she felt a tap on her back and Anita Crowe said, "We have decided, Hu Li. Please return to our table." 

Hu Li said quickly to Hagrid, "Well, it was lovely talking to you, Hagrid, and I'd love to do it again soon, but -" 

"I know," he said wisely. "Duty calls." 

"Yes," she said, and followed Anita back to the table.

When she had seated herself, Old Niccolo spoke. "Hu Li, it has been a difficult decision for some, and it has been an easy decision for others. However, we have decided as a group to agree to meet your ambassadors." Hu Li could not keep a smile and a sigh of relief from escaping. "But," Old Niccolo went on, and here he delivered a glare to Luis Perone especially, "we have made no other decisions." 

"That's fine," she said happily. "If you'll all just sign this form, stating that you have agreed to meet," and she produced a piece of parchment and a quill from inside her cloak. 

Luis was just rolling up the parchment and handing it back to her with a look of distaste when someone behind Hu Li exclaimed, "Well! What's all this?" 

Hu Li whirled around and saw Cecelia Feathersnip standing behind her. Hu Li thought, this is going to get bad very quickly. 

"But who are all these people?" Cecelia was saying loudly. "They can't be your family, Hu Li – no Chinese people here!" 

Hu Li said softly, "These are not family of the blood, but family of the heart. You cannot choose your family, but family they are and family they stay." She touched two of her right fingers to her heart. Behind her, she felt a wave of surprise and mild pleasure from the vampires at acknowledging them as family. 

Cecelia gushed, "Why, that's lovely! I'm here with my family too – my aunt was run down by a dragon," she confided, nodding. "I barely knew her, but it's all so sad." She dabbed at her eyes for a moment and then added, "But I do get to eat dinner down here, so everything worked out, didn't it?" Before Hu Li could say a word, Cecelia went on, "Well, I've got to be going to the funeral. Ta-ta!" She waved goodbye as she sailed out the door. 

Hu Li put her head down on the table in utter misery. She knew that Cecelia would get back to Hogwarts and tell the other Gryffindor girls, Hermione included, that she had seen Hu Li Zhang with ten weird people, and then Hermione would know she was lying, and tell Ron and Harry, and everyone would hate her – just like always. 

"You know her?" came the soft voice of Keiko. 

"Most unfortunately," she moaned. 

Luis said, sounding excited, "If you don't like that girl, then maybe I could–" 

Hu Li raised her head and said evenly, "You will not harm her, Luis. And if you do, I will personally make sure that you are beheaded and burned to ashes – and you know that even you can not survive that." 

Luis stared at her. There was silence at the table as he said softly, "Is it true that you were the one who murdered the Mad Minister of China – brutally murdered him?" 

Hu Li said coldly, "That is my business and is no concern of yours." 

Luis' eyes widened. He was surprised – and angry. "I didn't believe them when they told me," he hissed. "But they were right – you are _truly_ the daughter of the Phoenix." 

"You should never believe everything you hear," Hu Li replied. "You are wrong – they were wrong. I am nothing like Sou Mei and I never will be. I am no monster – I am merely a fallen angel." She stood up. "I must be going back to school now," she said. "Thank you all for coming here tonight. I hope that our meeting with the wizards works out for the best for all of us." She bowed and turned away from them.

She strode away to Hagrid's table where he was drinking deeply from a large mug and said to him, "What's the quickest way back to school?" 

He squinted at her and put down his mead. "Well, I s'pose I can take yeh back up. The lass won't be back for 'bout an hour or two. Might as well come with me." 

On the way back to school, she found she much preferred Hagrid's company to that of the ten vampires. 


	5. Death be not Proud

V – Death be not Proud

V – Death be not Proud

Hu Li was escorted safely back to the castle by Hagrid. She slipped in the main front door and glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine and there was no one about, either here or in the Great Hall.

She wanted more than anything to run upstairs and go straight to bed, but instead she trudged to the gargoyle statue and gave the password.

Dumbledore's door was closed when she reached it. She knocked and he called, "Come in!"

Hu Li opened the door and stepped inside. He smiled. "Ah, Hu Li. Back from the meeting?" She nodded mutely. 

He asked gently, "And how did it go?"

Hu Li dropped into one of his chairs. "They agreed to meet the wizard ambassadors," she said blankly.

Dumbledore smiled at her. "I knew that you could do it. Just a few minutes before you got here, Old Niccolo transported himself here and told me what a magnificent and eloquent speech you made. He said most of the others were quite impressed with you."

"Not all of them," she muttered. "Luis Perone wasn't very partial to either me or the whole state of affairs." 

Dumbledore replied calmly, "Luis Perone is not very partial to anything. He is not one of the more noble of the vampires and it surprised me that South America decided to send him as a representative."

"More likely he sent himself just to be bothersome," said Hu Li, not mentioning his anger at the end. He had appeared more or less cool on the outside, but she had seen fire in his eyes and hate in his heart.

Dumbledore smiled. "You did wonderfully, Hu Li. I merely want to remind you that was just the first step. You must also be present at the meeting between wizards and vampires as an intermediary, and then you must be present at the separate decisions of each party. But I have complete faith in you."

"You said you didn't need faith in me before," she reminded him mischievously.

"Ah, so I did. Very well, allow me to amend my statement. I firmly believe that you will be an admirable diplomat in the dealings to come."

"Better," she said. "At least I don't have to meet with the wizards to get _them_ to agree."

Dumbledore said, "No, I talked with them over the summer. After the other emissaries were sent to other misunderstood creatures and were successful, they agreed readily. Perhaps more readily because _they_ didn't have to be the ones to meet the vampires."

"Probably," said Hu Li, yawning. "Sure, send the poor little girl to face the vampires, but not the big strong wizards, eh?"

Dumbledore peered at her from over half-moon glasses. "I find it remarkable," he said, "that after all that you have encountered, and all the physical, mental, and emotional pain you have experienced, that you still consider yourself a little girl."

Hu Li said sadly, "In form only." She stood and smiled at him apologetically. "I'm very sorry, Professor, but I have to get to bed. I am absolutely exhausted – I hope I even make it to Gryffindor Tower without collapsing."

Dumbledore smiled. "I am confident in you, Hu Li. As always."

She turned to go, and he added, "Oh yes, and there was an announcement at dinner that you missed. I thought you might be interested in it."

"Yes?" she inquired, facing him.

"Quidditch tryouts will be held tomorrow after classes," he said. "Your father told me you had a passion for Quidditch."

Hu Li grinned, feeling almost happy - almost. "Yes," she replied fervently. She bowed and walked out of his office. She trudged slowly up to Gryffindor. "Flabbergastrications," she told the Fat Lady tiredly, who chuckled and swung open.

Hu Li stepped into the common room and looked up to see Harry, Hermione, and Ron all staring at her. Hu Li's heart lurched to her throat. She saw Cecelia Feathersnip in a corner with Lavender Brown, giggling about her expedition to Hogsmeade.

Hu Li sat down heavily in the empty chair near them. "So," she croaked, hoping feebly that all her hair had somehow become live orange snakes and that was why they were staring at her.

Hermione spoke. "Why did you lie to us?" she said quietly.

Hu Li swallowed the scream of misery that threatened to spill out. "What do you mean?"

Harry said, "You know. About Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, you said you were eating a quick dinner with your father," said Ron.

"Not for hours with a group of strangers, like Cecelia said," added Hermione.

Hu Li thought quickly. She would have to lie again – it couldn't be helped. "I did have dinner with my father," she said, managing to talk in a normal tone of voice. "I told you he had business here. I just didn't expect him to bring his business colleagues to the table with him."

They all stared at her. "Cecelia said there were no Chinese people there – and you called them 'family of the heart', not family," said Harry dubiously.

Hu Li nodded. "My father was off talking to Madam Rosmerta about a fly in his wine when Cecelia came over. She was right that I called them family of the heart – I have known them all for many years. Cecelia never gave me a chance to say anything else – you know her. Babbling idiot," she said. "When my father came back, I had to listen to them talk about boring Auror stuff for about a thousand years before I finally told my father I had to be back at school. I found Hagrid and he took me back."

They ate up her whole story – she saw the trust and relief enter their faces. It made her feel rather as if she had swallowed a live hippogriff."You know Hagrid?" asked Harry genially.

"I do now - much more interesting than my dad's colleagues. He told me all about what he does for his classes and how much he'd like to see some of the Chinese dragons and how once he hatched a dragon. Very nice man, Hagrid." Better than Luis Perone, she thought.

"Well, we apologize for thinking you lied to us, Hu Li," said Hermione, smiling.

"Yeah, we're sorry," said Ron.

Hu Li felt immense relief. Then the nasty voice in her head said, _They'll hate you all the more for it when they find out, you know. You'll be sorry, you will –_

Oh shut up, she told it angrily. That was absolutely necessary. Besides, it was one of my better lies – the fly in my father's wine, how brilliant.

Hu Li suddenly yawned. "I've got to go to bed, I am exhausted," she said.

Harry said as she stood, "Oh, did you know they'll be Quidditch tryouts tomorrow after classes? You can try for Keeper or Chaser."

She allowed herself a grin. "I hope I'm awake by then. Thanks, Harry. Good night, everyone."

"Dream well," said Hermione kindly. 

She sighed. "I'll do my best. See you in the morning."

As Hu Li slid in between the sheets ten minutes later, she had such a sick feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach that there would be no way she would dream well tonight.

***

Hu Li found herself in a small, dimly lit room. She looked down at herself in surprise. She was wearing a traditional Chinese qipao with a mandarin collar and butterfly buttons on the long dress-like garment. Like the top, the pants under it were made of very fine silk. It was the color of sapphires and ice. She felt that she had seen this outfit before, but she had no idea where.

Hu Li shifted uneasily on her feet. When she moved, she realized, she could feel something attached to the side of her leg. She bent down and pulled out a silver dagger. Its jade handle was carved with a tiger and a phoenix fighting, entwined forever in a combat of talons and teeth and hate. The detail was remarkable. She turned the dagger over, wondering how it got onto her leg, when she saw a single word carved on the blade. _Lugala._

The phoenix – she did not like the look of it. She felt a bad association with phoenixes, but she couldn't seem to recall it exactly. It was a feeling, nothing more._ _

Suddenly Hu Li noticed movement from the other side of the room. She took a step toward the movement cautiously, calling, "Hello?"__

Clutching the beautiful dagger, she walked forward towards where she had seen the movement. Another Chinese girl walked toward her out of the dimness. 

Hu Li gasped and stepped back. Then she laughed out loud. It was only a mirror –merely her reflection! She walked right up to the mirror and studied it closely. Hu Li's laughter died. The image in the mirror had a cruel mouth and skin as white as marble. Her hair was drawn back to reveal a well-boned face. Hu Li thought, there is something wrong here. This can't be me.

Then she realized the problem with a grim start. The reflection was smiling. Hu Li was not. The reflection's hard eyes were the azure color of the Yellow Sea. Hu Li's were as black as night.

Hu Li sucked in a breath. Quick as lightning, the thing in the mirror reached forward and 

pulled Hu Li by her collar up against the mirror. Hu Li struggled, but it was like being trapped in a clutch of iron.

The mirror spoke in Chinese. "Hu Li, foolish girl," she hissed. "I should have taught you never to trust. Learn this well, daughter – for I am coming. I am closer than you think. I will strike when you least expect it. You will never survive the attack of the Phoenix, for the Phoenix lives forever, and you do not."

Then she reached out with her other hand and wrenched Hu Li's dagger from her grasp. Then she plunged it into the blue qipao – plunged it into Hu Li's chest.

She let go. Hu Li gasped and sank to her knees in a wave of pain as her crimson life spilled out of her. The reflection laughed cruelly and stepped out of the mirror. "I will win, as I always do, dearie," she said. "You were doomed to lose." 

Hu Li fell facedown on the hard cold floor and did not get up.

***

Hu Li shrieked out and sat up, panting and shaking and staring wildly into the blackness A light went on in the dorm and someone murmured sleepily, "What on earth?"  
Hermione's shaken face peered around Hu Li's bedcurtains. "Hu Li? What happened? It's one in the morning," she said nervously.

"I – had another – nightmare," Hu Li said. She felt sick and weak, like one does when in the throes of the flu. She shivered, though she was hot. 

Hermione's face grew grave and concerned. "You should go to Madam Pomfrey," she said softly. "Maybe she can give you a potion for your nightmares."

Lavender Brown's face peered in, too. "What's going on?" she demanded irritably. "I was having a marvelous dream."

"Well, Hu Li wasn't," said Hermione severely. "She had a nightmare."  
Lavender looked at Hu Li, who nodded. She sniffed, "Well, _that's_ all fine and good, but you _don't_ have to go waking up the whole dorm about it. I was dreaming of Seamus Finnigan." He head disappeared and Hu Li groaned and put her head down. 

"I'm fine, really," she said into her arms. "It's all right, I'm going back to bed and you lot should too." She looked at Hermione pointedly.

"Fine," Hermione muttered. "It's your funeral." Her head disappeared as well, and the light snapped off.

You're right, thought Hu Li. Or at least, you will be very, very soon.

***

Hu Li woke late that day and skipped breakfast to avoid everyone, especially Hermione. Hu Li knew she was very clever, and she feared Hermione was putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Hu Li knew that when smart Muggles found out about a vampire, the vampire had to go inside the Muggle's mind and recreate the memory. Hu Li did not want it to come to that. She did not want to play inside Hermione's head. It was disrespectful, she felt, but if she had to …

During the classes that day, she thought about her dream. She remembered now where she had seen the blue **qi pao**. It was what Sou Mei had been wearing when the picture of her, Hu Li, and Lo had been taken. Hu Li had been not a year old, and it was before either Sou Mei left the Death Eaters and before she told Lo what she was. 

The phoenix and the tiger on the dagger were strange, too. She assumed she was the tiger, as the phoenix was obviously Sou Mei. What was that supposed to mean?

The ending of the dream, of course, left no interpretation. Hu Li was going to die when she and her mother were reunited again.

Hu Li wondered briefly whether she should tell Professor Dumbledore about the nightmares 

she had been having before deciding not to. No need to worry the old professor – he had enough on his hands, and he might take back his confidence and visions of Hu Li as a gladiator.

Classes seemed to pass quickly. Before she knew it, she was standing outside in the cold wind with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were waiting for Quidditch tryouts to begin.

Hu Li stood silently shivering in her Hogwarts cloak. Harry and Ron kept glancing at her, but said nothing. Hermione was as nice as she always was. 

Hu Li was waiting for her name to be called and looking at the Quidditch field when she felt a tap on her back. She turned. It was Draco Malfoy.

He was looking very cool, as usual. His pale cheeks had a hint of pink in them from the cold. He said, "I heard you were trying out for the Gryffindor team, Hu Li."

Over his shoulder, Hu Li saw Ron and Harry looked icy, and she didn't think it was from the weather alone. "Yes," she said. "Chaser."

"Splendid. I'm Seeker for Slytherin," he told her casually.

"It will be loads of fun to compete against you and the Slytherins, Draco," she replied.

Draco grinned. "What makes you so sure you're going to make the team?"

Hu Li recited, feeling more than slightly hypocritical, "If one does not have confidence in one's abilities, one has nothing."

"I'll have to write that one down."

"Sorry, that would be a copyright infringement," she informed him, and grinned too. 

Draco glanced over his shoulder, as if he could feel the nasty looks Harry and Ron were 

aiming at him, and said, "Fun crowd you've got back there."

She shrugged and lied, "Once I'm done with them, I'll let you play with them, if you'd like."

Draco snickered. His gray eyes winked and glittered in the cold October sun. "It's all right, 

really. I've got my own barrel of monkeys." He jerked his head toward Goyle and the other boy she had seen with him on the train. "Crabbe and Goyle, the animated boulders. Good for hours of play time. Some assembly required. Batteries not included."

"Lovely," she said, smiling.

"Of course, I don't think I need to introduce _you_ to Goyle," Draco continued, watching her closely.

Hu Li shrugged again. "Like I said, I'm fine. I didn't get burned."

He was still watching her with those bottomless eyes like a stormy sea. "I thought I saw burns on your hands," he said. "But maybe I was wrong."

"You must have been," she said. "My hands are as good as new." She held them up.

Draco stared at her with an odd look on his face. Just then she heard her name called. "Sorry, Draco, I've got to go," she said.

"Good luck," he murmured. "Good luck."

Hu Li walked onto the field with her broomstick. The way it appeared to work was that she would be playing with people who were already on other teams. She saw three people in scarlet robes, three in yellow, two in blue, and five in green. She herself was still wearing the black Hogwarts robes. 

Madam Hooch told her, "All right, Zhang, you're playing a Chaser, is that correct?" When Hu Li nodded, she went on, "You know what to do. Just do the best you can and the results will be announced later."

Hu Li took a breath and mounted her broom. Madam Hooch blew the whistle. She kicked her broom into the air and immediately felt her problems being left back on earth. In the air, she was 

emancipated. She did not have to worry about Draco or her friends finding out about her secrets. She did not have to worry about Luis Perone or Sou Mei or living up to Dumbledore's expectations. She was truly free.

Hu Li immediately dived into the game. The players on her teams had large banners draped on their backs. She was playing with a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw Chaser each. One was a kind-looking Chinese girl, and the other was a serious brown-haired boy. They were very good players, she found as she passed the Quaffle and allowed the Chinese girl to score a goal. Then the Hufflepuff boy scored two more goals. The three Chasers worked together so well that Hu Li wished they were all Gryffindors – they would have the best damn team in Europe.

The other team was looking rather sour by now, especially the five green players that were on it. One of them, the largest and meanest-looking one, was muttering threats under his breath every time Hu Li passed him in the air.

The three Chasers were passing the Quaffle expertly back and forth again. Hu Li was aware that the large Slytherin was behind her, dogging her every move. She made a sharp dive, and the serious boy tossed her the Quaffle. She zoomed toward the goalpost and threw the Quaffle in. She made the goal. The game was over. Her team had won.

The Chinese girl came whooshing over to her as she hovered near the goalpost with a grin on her face. She said excitedly, "Great job! You _definitely_ made the Gryffindor team. What's your name?"

Hu Li saw a large presence coming at her from the corner of her eyes as she opened her 

mouth to answer. She never got a chance to answer the girl. The large thing slammed into her 

with violent force and smashed her directly into the goalpost behind her.

Everything seemed to suddenly be in slow motion. Hu Li's vision dimmed as her head whacked against the goalpost. She heard each bone in her neck and back shatter and break in a series of sickening cracks. A loud cry of horror went up around the stadium. She opened her mouth in a groan of pain and despair as she saw Albus Dumbledore stand up with a stunned expression on his face. 

She had time only to moan, "Oh, no," with eyes closed before she began to fall the fifty feet toward earth. She knew she would be dead before they brought her to the hospital wing. Small wounds she could survive, but this – never.

Hu Li hit the ground with a horrendous, brutal thud. The grass was soft and smelled fresh. She made to sit up and found she could not move any part of her body. She was completely paralyzed. She was completely helpless. 

The last thing she saw was Draco Malfoy kneeling over her with a blank expression of horror on his face, saying dreadfully, "Hu Li, Hu Li, wake up, please, oh, Hu Li …"

Hu Li's eyes fluttered in agony and she lay still in the cool grass. The last thing she thought numbly was, Sou Mei will never get her chance. And then all went dark.


	6. Daughter of the Phoenix

VI-Daughter of the Phoenix

VI – Daughter of the Phoenix

Hu Li was trapped in a closet. Her childhood friend, Seung, had locked her in there as a joke. 

They had used to play together a lot before Seung found out whose child Hu Li was. Then Seung never came over again. But now Seung had locked her in a closet, and she couldn't get out. She was stuck! Then she was tied up and there were people sticking needles in her back. She was afraid they were tattooing her back – perhaps with a tiger. After all, Sou Mei had a phoenix on her lower back. It made sense. It was symmetrical.

Then Hu Li was very still. She had a feeling it was a funeral. Her father had always told her to be very respectful and quiet at funerals. She was calm and quiet, but she wondered who was dead. She wondered whose funeral it was. 

Then she opened her eyes and her worst suspicions were confirmed. 

She was dead.

It was her funeral.

Hu Li was lying in a bed – a coffin? – in a room she had never been in. She found she could not move any part of her body – even her eyes would only open slightly. She saw Hermione was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room. Her face was splotchy and her eyes were very red. She was next to Harry and Ron. Their faces were colorless. Ron kept twisting the sleeve of his robe into a coil and then untwisting it again. Harry was staring at the floor with horror etched in his face.

Then she saw Draco. He was standing off to the side, farther away from the other three. He was staring out the window. His face was blank and his eyes were like windows that had been shuttered and locked and nailed shut forever.

No one spoke. Everyone was as silent as a corpse. Then Hu Li heard a grave murmuring in the background.

" … contact Lo in Hong Kong, but he was away on business and won't be back until 

tomorrow. I didn't want to send an owl, because I thought it would be atrocious to hear about the death of your only child and daughter by mail." The voice grew louder and then Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey stepped into the room.

So I _am_ dead, thought Hu Li miserably. Then she thought just as quickly, wait a minute, how can I be dead if I'm thinking? She was very confused.

Dumbledore was patting Hermione on the shoulder. His face was solemn and sad. "I know it will be hardest on her friends and family," he was saying softly. "Hu Li was a wonderful, unusual girl. She will be missed very dearly."

Hermione said in a quavery voice, "Why did it kill her?"

He replied uneasily, "The shock and the pain of breaking her back and being paralyzed was probably too much for her. It has happened before, to others, although certainly not the same way. Marcus Flint swore he didn't do it intentionally and that he just wasn't watching where he was flying."

Draco, who had been staring out the window all this time, looked up and said sharply, 

"_Bull_shit."

Dumbledore looked at him in surprise. Draco continued angrily, "Flint was heading straight for her. He was looking right at her until the moment he crashed into her. He was just bitter that she beat him at Quidditch, the lousy stupid goddamn git." 

Hu Li blinked in surprise. Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something to Draco when Hermione shrieked, "Hu Li just blinked!"

Everyone whipped around and stared at Hu Li. Hu Li tried to move to show them she was alive – or she thought she was, anyway – only she couldn't move. Dumbledore threw Madam Pomfrey a glance and said gently to Hermione, "Hermione, this is going to be a very difficult time for you and I know you were hurt very badly by Hu Li's death, but she _is_ dead."

Hermione stood up and stared wildly at Hu Li. Everyone else stared at Hermione, who said belligerently, "No! I saw her blink. She's alive!"

Dumbledore took Hermione by the shoulders and said firmly, "Now Hermione, you and I both know that for Hu Li to be alive is an impossib-"

Dumbledore stopped suddenly, with an arrested look and just an ounce of hope on his face. He turned slowly to look at Hu Li on the bed. At that moment, she found she could open her eyes all the way. She used her arms to push her to a sitting position until she was looking everyone in the eye. It took all her strength just to do that simple act.

They stared at her for a moment, before Madam Pomfrey fainted dead away.

Dumbledore managed to catch her before she hit the floor. He carried her over to one of the empty beds and laid her down. He waved his wand over her while muttering something, and she sat up and moaned.

The whole time this was happening, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco were staring at Hu Li. Ron had backed away, as if it were a demon that had possessed her body. Hermione looked as though she was torn between happiness and disbelief and fright. Harry was looking her up and down, as if to make sure she was all in one piece. But Draco – he simply looked horrified and sickened. And Hu Li knew that he knew. 

Madam Pomfrey said nervously, "How could she – what in the – it's not – she's still –" Hu Li felt sorry for her. 

Dumbledore was looking at Hu Li with an expressionless face, but she could sense his amazement and relief. 

Harry said softly, "I don't understand, Hu Li. How can you be alive?"

Hu Li could feel Dumbledore, as well as everyone else in the room, looking at her expectantly. She swallowed, her mind on Draco. This was the end. She could feel it. Past the point of no return – the bridges were crossed, and all she could do was stand and watch them burn. Screams of utter misery were echoing through her head – her own screams. "Er," she said hesitantly. "I don't think my back was broken, exactly. I think I just got knocked out when I hit the ground."

How lame, she thought. She could tell no one believed her – least of all Draco. Indeed, it seemed to confirm his worst fears. 

Madam Pomfrey sat up primly on the bed and said stiffly, "I know a broken back when I see one, Miss Zhang. And I know a dead body when I see one, as well. You were not alive when you 

were brought in here."

Hu Li looked down and said quietly, "I'm sorry, Madam Pomfrey, but you must have made a mistake. As you can see, I am alive and still kicking." 

Draco flinched at these words, a grimace on his face. Madam Pomfrey said severely, "_Well_! Are you saying I was _wrong_ about you being dead?"

Dumbledore murmured, "Poppy, I don't mean to offend your medical pride, but it does seem as though you were wrong, seeing as how Hu Li is clearly as alive as you or I."

Draco turned away at that and resumed his study of the window. Hu Li could feel harsh disappointment and distrust and nausea and especially fear emanating from him. Well, it had been lovely while it lasted, she thought unhappily.

Madam Pomfrey was looking at her with slightly less distaste now. "Perhaps you are right, Professor," she agreed reluctantly. "Either that or she is a medical miracle."

You hit the head on the nail, Poppy baby, thought Hu Li desolately. 

Harry and Ron were looking slightly more accepting. Hermione looked doubtful for a moment. Then the positive side of her won out, and she ran forward and hugged Hu Li tightly. "I'm so happy you're alive!" she sobbed into Hu Li's hair. The two boys came over too, and stood awkwardly around, grinning at Hu Li. 

"We thought you were dead for sure, Hu Li," said Ron, swallowing. 

Harry nodded. "Professor Dumbledore was trying to track down your dad and everything."

Hu Li shuddered to think what would have happened if her father had been told she was dead. Living through the worst possible disaster that a parent could encounter for several hours before being told he had mourned in vain – she was glad her father had been spared that. She was all he had left. 

While Hermione strangled her and cried into her hair, Hu Li watched Draco with infinite sadness creeping slowly through her. He refused to look at her. He merely glared daggers at the window.

Hermione finally released her when Madam Pomfrey said, "All right, everyone out. This girl needs rest. She may still have sprains, even if she _didn't_ break her back." Hu Li saw that Madam Pomfrey really did believe that she had made a mistake. Poor, trusting woman – the wise headmaster and the sweet student both tell her a lie convincingly, so she accepts it as truth. Hu Li suddenly felt lower than Jack the Ripper probably ever felt. Hu Li thought, and I'm about as mad as he was, too – or at least I'm almost there.

Hermione gave her one last hug – which hurt; Madam Pomfrey was right, her back did ache even though it was not broken (anymore) – and then trotted out with Harry and Ron, who each slipped Hu Li some Toffee Creams and Peppermint Toads for her stay in the hospital wing. She smiled gratefully at them as they exited. Madam Pomfrey bustled off to the far end of the hospital wing tend to a Hufflepuff fourth year that had the flu.

Finally it was just she and Draco. Madam Pomfrey had somehow overlooked him, perhaps because he was standing in the shadows without making a sound.

Hu Li cleared her throat a few times. Draco made no response, except to glare harder at the window.

"So, Draco," she tried. "I was just –"

He whirled on her like a viper striking. "Don't," he hissed. "Don't talk to me. I don't want anything to do with you. I know what you are. You are a _liar_ – you are unnatural - you are a _monster_. You are Death walking, with a beautiful mask to cover your evil. I have had experience with your race – they are liars and frauds and murderers. I knew when you got on that train that you looked like someone I have seen before, and now I know who." He stopped and said very slowly and deliberately, "You are the daughter of the Phoenix, the most terrible vampire ever to taint the earth. And you wear her horror well."

Hu Li closed her eyes. In one outburst, he had condemned her. He was jury, judge, and executioner – all in one. The verdict: guilty. Away to the gallows. 

A tear slid out of her eye and dripped onto the sheets, surprising her. She rarely cried. "I do not deny any of that," she whispered. "I am what you say I am. I am all of it."

Draco stared at her, taken aback. He evidently expected her to contradict him. "So it's true," he said. His arms dropped to his sides and he began to look slightly apprehensive.

"Yes," Hu Li muttered. "You are right – as always. A liar, a freak, a monster, a murderer, and the daughter of a demon – I am everything you say. But I am not happy with it. Why would I be?" She suddenly felt like throwing up.

"I don't know," he said softly. "But I know what my father tells me – about the Phoenix and about you. You are the half-blood, no?"

She nodded mutely.

He stared at her, and she could see and feel his fear grow with each second. "The one who violently killed the Mad Minister of China- _with her bare hands?"_

"One and the same," she said, raising her head and looking him directly in the eye. "Of all the things that I am, that is the one that I do not regret. He deserved that and much more, and you would agree if I told you everything he did to me – and many others like me. He was the monster – not me. Sou Mei is the monster – not me. You must understand – I did not ask to be this way. I do not enjoy it. I do not take advantage of it. It is just a part of me, just as you can not help your father being one of the most horrible Death Eaters ever – excluding the Phoenix."

He looked at her, startled. "How do you know that?"

"I know all the Death Eaters and the ex-Death Eaters," she said bitterly. "Fun bunch of people, if you ask me. Entertained themselves with Muggle-torturing – yes, I believe that was one of your father's personal favorite hobbies?"

Draco stared at her. He was not expecting this – a counter-attack. He began to edge back. 

She lost patience and snapped, "Don't go anywhere. You have no reason to fear me. You are wrong about one thing – I am nothing like Sou Mei. I do not need blood; I do not kill for the fun. I do not kill at all – Jun Tao is nothing. I am basically a good person." As she said the last sentence, she did not know whether she said it to assure Draco or to assure Hu Li.

Suddenly Hu Li began to cry, shocking and disgusting herself. She found that once you got started, it was hard as hell to stop. She buried her head in her sheets and sobbed, as she never had before. "You don't understand," she wept. "No one does. I am an outcast in every society. Everyone fears me. I thought I was mortal. I was glad that at least I would die and be rid of it all, but now I am not so sure. I was dead, Draco. I know it - I could feel it. My back was broken." She cried harder than ever. "My blood is a poison and it is a remedy. It heals all wounds and it destroys all life. I do not want to be Sou Mei – older than the pyramids, immortal as the night. I want to _die."_

Draco looked thunderstruck. She could understand why – she had never revealed so much emotion in front of him – in front of anyone.

Abruptly he took three steps forward and wrapped his arms around her. Shocked, Hu Li stopped in mid-sob. She raised her head and stared intently into his eyes. She was sure she looked dreadful from crying, but for some reason it didn't bother her, because in Draco's eyes, there was forgiveness. In Draco's eyes, there was compassion. 

He hugged her tightly and uncertainly, as if he had never hugged anyone before. He whispered, "I know how you feel – born to a parent that despises you and yet wants to mold you into a version of themselves. Born to a parent who is purely selfish, purely _evil_."

She sniffled, thinking about that, and then said, "I can't live like this – I can't live forever. I'll go mad. Maybe I_ am_ mad, I don't know." She was silent for a moment and then she said, "You were right to be afraid of me. I _am_ dangerous. I fear myself, just as much as others fear me. I was once told that my problem was that I hold the keys to too many doors. I see know what he was talking about. He must have known I am not mortal. But this immortality – this is what Jun Tao was after: immortality that has no price to be paid."

"But there is a price," said Draco sensibly. "You hate it."

Hu Li nodded slowly. "I do. I don't understand how someone can want to live forever. I have not even two decades behind me and already I am tired of living."

"Don't say that," he said sharply. "You're not mad. You are as normal as the next girl, only

you have very special genes to make you smart and strong and psychic and – immortal."

Hu Li pulled away from him. "How the hell would you know whether I am mad or not?" she said tearfully, her voice rising in anger. "I could be as mad as a goddamn Hatter, and you would never guess! What I have been through is enough to make anyone a lunatic! Jun Tao – you meet him on the street and he'll be the finest gentleman you'd ever see – but look at him cross-eyed, and he'll throw you into his torture chamber!"

Draco said quietly, "Is that what he did to you?"

Hu Li let out her breath slowly, calming herself. "Yes," she admitted. "Only it was because he said I was a danger to China and to the world because my mother was a Death Eater. He told my father I would have to be detained for questioning to make sure I wasn't working for Voldemort. That heartless brute – the only reason he disliked Voldemort is because he was jealous that Voldemort had more power than he did. My father tried to fight him against holding me, but Jun Tao always did whatever he wanted to do. He really wanted to find out what he called my 'secrets'. He wanted to create a super-race of humans and make himself immortal as well, to be their leader forever. He wanted the super-race to be more powerful than the normal humans so that they could destroy them, but less powerful than him so he would always be the authority." She sighed. "He was a genius in many ways, but he was a madman in so many more."

"What did he do to you, exactly?" Draco said cautiously. He probably thought she was a time bomb, for sure, and should be handled with extreme care. 

"Tortured me," she said shortly. "Tortured me and beat me and starved me and screamed at me for a week. He used the Cruciatus Curse and other wizard torture, but he also used Muggle instruments from the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, and China's own secrets. The Chinese do the worst and the best torture in the world – the best, for Jun Tao. I managed to escape, finally, but it has left scars not on my body, but on my soul."

Draco looked out the window again. "I am very sorry," he said. "I can understand what a terrible time you've had – sort of – and I can understand why you lied about being part vampire. I can see why you would – my own reaction is enough evidence. And I want you to know that I hold no grudges against you. You can't choose your family."

Hu Li stared at him. "Yes," she whispered. "Exactly."

Draco's eyes met hers, and for a moment she drowned in those wise silver pools – or wished 

she could drown in them. Then the click of feet was audible, and Hu Li spun around to see an angry Madam Pomfrey striding across the hospital wing.

"I can understand you'd like to have your friends around, Miss Zhang," she shouted heatedly, "after the situation you've been through, but this is _too much_! Out, Mr. Malfoy! Now!"

Draco threw Hu Li an understanding smile as Madam Pomfrey chased him out. Then she turned sternly to Hu Li. "Lay down," she said menacingly, "and sleep, or I shall call the headmaster in here!"

Hu Li obediently lay down and closed her eyes till she was gone. Then she opened them and stared at the ceiling. Draco knew and Draco understood. She almost thought it was too good to believe. Did she secretly repel him? Was he merely a good actor, playing for his life? Was he just afraid to cross her? She did not know.

Hu Li told herself sleepily, only the future will tell. Then she closed her eyes and fell willingly into a deep and unquenchable sleep.


	7. Year of the Dragon

VII – Year of the Dragon

VII – Year of the Dragon

Hu Li awoke out of a pleasantly dreamless sleep to find herself in a strange room. She was 

confused and slightly frightened for a few minutes until she recalled the events of the previous day. It seemed so much like some fantastic reverie of hers that she wondered for a moment if indeed she did have dreams – about falling from a broom and breaking her back and being dead and awaking to mourners at her bedside. Then she remembered where she was – the hospital wing. She also seemed to recall Madam Pomfrey giving her something for her back when she was still in the dregs of exhaustion, because her back didn't hurt and there was a small green vial next to her bed.

There was also a large pile of brightly colored cards and gifts. Hu Li was startled at first and then realized they must be for someone else.

Then Madam Pomfrey bustled in. "Oh good, you're awake," she said briskly. "Breakfast will be in soon, and I want you to take a spoonful of that with your tea. It will help your bones to regenerate properly, if they were sprained. I couldn't detect anything, but you never know. It seems to be hard to tell with you." She gave Hu Li a look and then said, "Oh yes, and perhaps opening all your cards would make you feel better as well."

"_Me_?" said Hu Li incredulously. "Those are for _me_?" 

Madam Pomfrey stared at her. "Why yes, from several concerned students and teachers. I believe Professor Snape came here himself early this morning to deliver a card."

Hu Li suppressed a giggle at this and set to work on the cards. Fred and George Weasley had sent her a giant case of Honeydukes candy and she wondered briefly how they got it. It came with an exploding card that left her sheets slightly singed. Hermione has sent her a card that read, _Get well soon, Hu Li, and I've got all your schoolwork for you to bring up later._ _Love, Hermione. _There were small blotches where the ink had run because of teardrops landing on Hermione's careful letters. Harry and Ron had sent her photos taken by someone called Colin Creevey. They were of her on her broom at the Quidditch try-outs, and she was surprised at how fierce she looked. Harry's card read, _Hu Li, you kicked ass at Quidditch and you made Gryffindor! Get well so you can come play with us. Harry. _Ron's was the longest and read: _Hermione's collecting all your schoolwork and taking extensive notes for you, so don't worry. I'm being sarcastic - she didn't believe me when I said you'd be more interested in the study of dust particles than in your homework. Get well and enjoy it while you can, Hermione's bringing your stuff up this afternoon. Your friend, Ron_. There was a card from someone named Cho Chang. Hu Li had no idea who that was until she read it: _Hu Li, I'm so sorry about what happened, I hope it wasn't because I was talking to you. Marcus Flint should be kicked out of school – out of the country! Get well. Cho. _Dumbledore's said simply_, I am very much relieved at your recovery and I wish you swift recuperation. Get well, Professor Dumbledore. _

Finally there were but three left. The top was written in a cramped, irritated handwriting. Hu Li could feel the aura on it – it was Snape's card. She grinned and opened it. It read, _Miss Zhang, you are far more than what you appear to be. I do believe the Headmaster knew what he was doing when he let you transfer – he has told me of your recent success as an emissary. You have my deepest sympathy and I wish you good health. Professor Snape, Potions. _The next was Draco's. It read simply, _Get well, Hu Li. I'm sorry about what happened – I was horrible. Please forgive me. Draco Malfoy_.

The last was a bulky package wrapped in parchment. It had been delivered to the school from the outside world and was postmarked Egypt. Hu Li hoped for a millisecond that it was her father, but she realized that the news probably hadn't even reached him yet. She also could sense that the aura wasn't his – it was as if the sender had masked his or her aura so Hu Li wouldn't be able to identify it. She opened the package with caution.

The aura that had been trapped in the small package came hissing out and hit Hu Li like a fierce, icy wind. "Oh no," she whispered, staring at the package in her hand, at the swift, sure, foreign handwriting. "Oh, God."

She pulled out the letter. It was written in Chinese characters. She knew immediately whom it was from. 

The letter read: _My daughter, I heard of your fall at your school and wish to convey my deepest relief that you did not die. It would be a shame indeed if I was denied the pleasure of your blood on my hands. I sent you a small token of my affection. I believe it will come in handy someday soon, for I am much closer than you realize. I look forward to the day that we meet again as mother and daughter and as hunter and quarry. Till then, my darling, I wait. Love, your Niang. _

Hu Li was scared – scared stiff. Her mother was close by – close enough to hear about her fall within less than twenty-four hours. She had signed the letter Niang, the formal Chinese word for "mother." Hu Li felt sick.

Hu Li did not want to open the package, but her hands seemed to have taken on a life of their own. They tore off the paper and string and something bright and shiny fell out.

Shaking, Hu Li picked it up. It was the same dagger of which she had dreamt: the same silver handle carved with the word _Lugala_, the same handle with the jade tiger and phoenix locked in an eternal battle, the same cold beauty and _power_ that lay in her hands.

Hu Li fondled it almost reverently. The blade was cold to the touch. Sou Mei was coming closer. She had to be prepared. Despite her years of training in combat with Muggle weapons such as knives, swords, machine guns, bows and arrows, crossbows, poisoned darts, and revolvers, not to mention several rigorous courses in the more powerful curses, she was still afraid. She still felt in her heart that she would not be left standing.

She pulled up the hem of her robe and tore a large strip off. Then she secured the knife to her thigh with the ripped cloth. It will do for now, she thought. You can never be too prepared.

Hu Li's sharp ears picked up footsteps, and she dove back under the covers and stuffed Sou Mei's letter in her pocket just as the door swung open and Draco staggered in with an enormous breakfast balanced on a little silver tray.

"Hey," he murmured, swaying back and forth with the weight of the tray. "I thought to make up for my rudeness last night, I'd be your personal servant – for a few minutes, anyway. Then I have to get to class. Did you hear you made Gryffindor? Madam Hooch wasn't sure if you'd fancy getting back on a broomstick any time soon so the position is there for you only if you really want it. No pressure." He sat down on a chair next to her bed and balanced the tray on his knees.

"If I want it? Of course I want it!" Hu Li exclaimed. "I only died trying, so why on earth would I pass it up?" 

He grinned slightly. "Well, no one else knows you died. Everyone else thinks you just live a charmed life. Have some sausage, it's magnificent this morning."

"I find it remarkable," she commented dryly, "that you talk about death and sausages in the same breath. Is that the level I am on – breakfast food?"

"Not quite yet," he replied lightly. "Breakfast food is an important three-fourths of my life and has been there for me for nearly sixteen years. I barely know _you_."

"You know me a lot better than any of the other people at this school," she reminded him. "At 

least you do now." She took a bite of sausage. "It is good," she admitted. "Hey, if you're my personal servant, why didn't you come wearing one of those little French maid outfits?"

"It was in the wash," Draco responded. "So I know you better than the Three Caballeros?"

"If you refer to Harry, Ron, and Hermione . . . I would say yes," she said guiltily. 

Draco leaned back and raised an eyebrow. "There's an interesting development. They don't 

know – erm – "

"No, they don't," she muttered. "How could I possibly tell them I am half-vampire? I wasn't even going to tell you but you found out yourself."

"I have had a bit of experience with vampires," he said matter-of-factly. "One of Lucius' good friends is an Argentinean vampire. He and Lucius were dueling once and I was watching. Luis was distracted by something and my father accidentally skewered him like a shish kabob. Luis would have been as dead as my fifteen-greats uncle if he had been human, but he just pulled the sword out and we watched the wound close up within a minute. I knew that if you survived your injury yesterday, there could be no possible way you were human. Add to that the fact that I knew you looked like a vampire Death Eater I have seen before . . . and it wasn't hard to add two and two for the rest of the puzzle."

So Luis Perone was friendly with Lucius Malfoy, a Death Eater! Hu Li told herself she would have to watch that man. Then she said worriedly, "I'm mostly concerned about Hermione. She is very clever. She is already suspicious of me because of some other things, and now that I am back from the grave, she may put two and two together the same way you did. Oh, God." She put her head in her hands. "I don't think I'll be able to deal with that."

Draco's hand rested on her shoulder with a barely perceptible pressure, but she felt comfort 

spread through her nonetheless. He inquired, "What are the other _things_ that have made Hermione suspicious of you?"

Hu Li let out her breath. "Nightmares. I have been having horrible nightmares – they have plagued me my whole life but they seem to grow worse and more frequent here at Hogwarts." She thought a moment. "Maybe – yes, I have heard of this before – a vampire that sends a psychic demon to afflict you with bad dreams. Perhaps my mother has decided that before she kills –" She caught herself too late.

Draco's sly face grew very grave. "Sou Mei is coming to kill you?" he breathed. "My God, Hu Li, this is serious."  
"You honestly think I am unaware of that?" she snapped. "I have known _that_ since I was five years old when my father began training me for that day. I am very serious about this. But _until_ that day, I don't know what I can do about anything."

Draco thought. "Here's what you can do, Hu Li. Have you ever had one time in your life where you had been so happy that nothing seemed to bother you and the whole world seemed to be your friend?"

"Never," Hu Li said miserably. "Not once. And I can't think what that has to do with doing something about Sou Mei. "

"Have you ever had fun – ever?"

"_No_," she said. "Stop it, you're depressing me."

Draco said deliberately, "It's time you got out of the house, Hu Li dear. All you do is sit around and worry. There's more to life than that."

"Not for me, there isn't," she said firmly. "Sou Mei is going to murder me when she comes for me. I know it."

"Well, with that negative attitude," he said flippantly, but she noticed his skin went slightly 

paler. "Hu Li, you and me are two of a kind. I've been miserable most of my life too. And it's gotten me absolutely nowhere. So you know what we're going to do – you and me?"

"What," she said listlessly and without interest.

"We are going to go have some fun in Hogsmeade tonight. It's the weekend. We deserve it."

Hu Li stared at him. "You mean – _sneak out_?"

Draco nodded solemnly.

She felt the edges of a smile twitching her lips. "Really," she said. "Sneak out to Hogsmeade. And do what?"

Draco shrugged. "Ah, you know, the joke shop, the sweet shop, the Three Broomsticks, maybe the Shrieking Shack if we can fit it in. You've never been there before, and I should show it to you – Hogsmeade the way it should be. "

I have seen it, she thought to herself. You just don't know it. But despite her misgivings, her fascination grew. "I don't know," she said slowly. "What if – "

"Stop. Just stop agonizing about this. We will be gone _maybe_ five hours, we won't even be missed, and everything will be fine."

Hu Li leaned back in bed. He's right, she thought, I deserve a little break, a few hours in Hogsmeade – hell, after everything that has happened in the past twenty-four hours, I deserve a year in south of France. "All right," she said reluctantly. "I suppose I could."

He sat back with a look of satisfaction on his face. "Great. Don't tell anyone where you're going – they'll never notice you're gone anyway." 

"That's usually the way it happens," she said softly, staring into space.

A funny look came over his face and he said, "You know, I was really worried when – when I thought you had died. I was – I guess I was sort of sad."

Hu Li did not look at him for fear that she would break down and cry again. "Sad? Draco Malfoy, sad? I suppose I should consider this cause for celebration – I have been told you never 

show any emotion but arrogance and hate."

"True," he said bitterly. "Very true. I have never been taught any emotions but those – how 

was I to feel them? Monsters do not always come in the shape of a vampire, you know. Indeed, the worst kind of monster is the one who comes dressed as a loved one – as a parent." 

"Yes," Hu Li said compassionately. "You understand me better than anyone, Draco. You have had it worse than me, I fear – at least Sou Mei has the excuse of being a vampire. Your father is just . . ." She trailed off, unsure how to finish her sentence.

"Just plain evil, you mean," he said terribly. "I know it as well as you." He sighed and looked 

at his watch. "Damn, I'll be late to Snape's if I don't run. Okay – meet me behind the greenhouses at five o'clock. We'll get dinner in Hogsmeade, all right?"

"Sounds good," Hu Li said. "Have fun with Severus."

Draco grinned at her and hurried out the door with a passing wave.

Hu Li sat looking after him for a minute. Draco wasn't _that_ bad, she decided. True, he could be a little arrogant and a little cold sometimes, but she had a feeling that it was not so much as his true personality as what his environment had shaped him to be. She knew Lucius Malfoy was a horrible person. And yet she still considered Draco a friend – never at the level that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were, but someone that understood her – almost. Just then Madam Pomfrey came sweeping in.

"Why are you _awake_?" she demanded of Hu Li. "You've just injured your back and fallen fifty feet through the air and you're not _sleeping_?"

Hu Li laughed out loud. "Can I have some of that green stuff, Madam Pomfrey? My back's starting to ache."

Madam Pomfrey gave her a funny look but obeyed. Hu Li didn't mind the look – she was starting to get used to it. 

Hu Li tossed down the bad-tasting potion and her back did start to feel better. She said, "When can I get out of here?"

Madam Pomfrey squinted at her. "I would say not until tomorrow."

Hu Li heaved an exaggerated sigh. "All right, then. I'm going to sleep." She reached out to pull her bed curtains shut and then added, "And I think I'll go to bed pretty early tonight as well – about five or so. After all," and here she put on a martyred look of bravery, "I did nearly break my back – and it certainly was exhausting. Please don't disturb me after four-thirty."

"Of course," said Madam Pomfrey, her features softening. She swept off to the other end to tend to the flu-ridden Hufflepuff.

Hu Li lay down. She had set her alibi for tonight; even if Madam Pomfrey did look in her curtains, she could maybe put a charm on her bed sheets to look as if there were a living person in them. Yes, she decided, that was the way to do it. She rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

***

Ten minutes to five o'clock found Hu Li creeping down to the greenhouses. She had run up to the Gryffindor dorm when no one was in it and had changed her robes. Hu Li had grabbed her nice black traveling cloak and her wand. She had Transfigured one of her shoelaces into a real knife leg-strap – who knows what could happen in Hogsmeade? She was extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but nothing felt safer than a cool knife in her sure hands. 

Hu Li looked around for Draco and found no one. She began to worry – maybe he had forgotten about her, or he had been caught, or he had just decided to play a cruel joke on a gullible girl. She was just starting to get angry when she heard very soft footsteps behind her. She did not turn.

"Arghh, Malfoy," she muttered. "I was afraid you wouldn't show."

"I had to go out the back," he said, sounding slightly disgruntled. "Snape caught me, but I told 

him I was heading for the kitchens and lost my way, and he let me through with a sinister smile for his pet student. That guy irritates me sometimes."

Hu Li turned. "He's not bad," she said, and watched Draco's mouth fall open in shock. 

Draco said incredulously, "_Not bad_? We're talking about the same person, right?"

Hu Li peered at her nails. "I believe so," she said. "Draco, you of all people should know to look behind the mask. Snape masquerades as something he's not, just like you."

"And you," he reminded her.

Hu Li chose to ignore this. "Are we going or not?"

Draco gave an exaggerated bow and swept one hand magnanimously toward the direction of Hogsmeade. She walked in front of him.

On the way down, Draco said casually, "How can you stand hanging out with the Gang of Three? I mean – "

"To whom do you refer?" she asked coldly.

He said, "Well, Potter, Granger, and Weasley, of course. How do you do it?"

Hu Li stopped still, causing him to bump into her. "What do you mean?" she hissed.

Draco stared at her. "Well – don't they kind of get on your nerves - sometimes?"

Hu Li stared back at him. "_No_," she said vehemently. "_You_ get on my nerves sometimes. If you had but half the intelligence Snape thinks you have, you wouldn't go insulting my friends in front of me."

Predictably, Draco's look of confusion began to relax and assume his superior smirk. "Now, now," he said languidly. "Let's not get defensive."

"I damn will get defensive!" she exploded. "I don't appreciate your insults!"

Draco put his hands in his pockets and rolled his eyes. "Relax," he said. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Hu Li glared at him and for a moment almost wished she had her father's brass knuckles in her hand. "If I didn't know what a fiend your father was, I would wonder where you learned your manners. But I think I know– Lucius Malfoy's Dark Arts Charm School?"

Draco's eyes grew very cold. "Look," he snapped. "Let's just go down and eat dinner, we can't go back until at least seven because everyone would notice if we went back." He stomped ahead of her down to the village. Hu Li could feel the anger emanating from him like heat. Well, good, she was pissed too.

She followed him as he skulked down to Hogsmeade. She didn't even bother pretending to let him lead her to the Three Broomsticks – she walked ahead of him into the pub. She could feel mild surprise from him that she knew where it was but she was too angry to care. She went directly to a small table in the corner and took a seat facing the door with her back to most of the pub. Draco sat reluctantly across from her and looked at her expectantly.

"What are you looking at," she snapped. 

Draco said, "Aren't you going to apologize to me?"

Hu Li resisted the urge to throw him out the door by his shirt collar. "No, and not ever," she said, disgusted. "You insulted my friends. I insulted you. An eye for an eye, Malfoy."

A faint look of sadness came into his face. "So," he said softly. "You're going to call me Malfoy now, too?"

"That's right," she said belligerently. "And I don't give a good goddamn what you think of 

it."

Draco looked around the pub and avoided her gaze. Then Madam Rosmerta came tripping merrily over in silver heels. "Are you going to order drinks or dinner?" she inquired cheerfully.

"Both," Draco told her imperiously. "I'll have a butterbeer and the prime rib."

Hu Li said sulkily, "Cherry soda water and the steamed vegetables."

Madam Rosmerta nodded and went off to fill their orders. Hu Li was left staring at the table. Neither of them spoke. Slowly, a background voice became audible and made itself stand out of the rest of the noise in the pub.

"Well, I don't really care about her mother," said the voice with a Spanish or Portuguese accent. "She'll probably _thank_ me from getting rid of Little Miss Zhang."

Hu Li raised her eyes in shock to see Draco looking back at her with a horrified expression on his face. They both leaned forward to listen.

Another harsher, rougher voice replied, "I don't know, Lu. The Phoenix has her heart set on killing her daughter. They say the girl's very strong in her own right, anyway."

The accented voice said impatiently, "I have tasted the blood of half-vampires and I know for a fact that they are not only the sweetest and most potent liquor on earth but they also reinforce your own strength. I must have her." He chuckled. "She is rather cute as well. She looks like her mother – although Sou Mei never would take notice of me."

The second man said, "Luis, I'm telling you, it's going to get you killed. The Phoenix won't be pleased and she'll come after you."

Luis replied, "How can it get me killed if she doesn't know I did it?" He laughed.

The other guy sounded worried. "You don't know what she is like, Luis. She knows everything. She will track you down and not rest until you are dead."

Luis sounded bored. "How tragic. Harrison, good fellow, I know a lot more than you imagine. I have lived for a thousand years – certainly longer than that stupid fool Niccolo. He thinks he knows more than me? Hah! Doddering old man doesn't know his ass from his elbow – how can he tell me what to do?"

Harrison said, "Old Niccolo is very wise."

"And that's where you're wrong, Harrison my boy. I am afraid of nothing and no one. I care not for the wandering opinions of weak old men who should have died centuries ago. Albus Dumbledore's another one –" Luis lowered his voice slightly. "And when the Dark Lord comes back into his full power, I will see to it that -"

Just then Madam Rosmerta came back and cheerily plunked down their drinks. They both glared at her and she took a step back, evidently wondering what she had done to procure their annoyance.

Luis and Harrison were quiet now; their dinners had just arrived. Draco and Hu Li stared at each other, all arguments forgotten for the moment. 

Hu Li whispered, "Luis Perone?"

Draco took a quick look over her shoulder and then nodded. "How do you know him?" he breathed.

Hu Li lied, "You heard him – he knows my mother. He _is_ a very powerful vampire – he wasn't merely bragging. But he is the world's greatest fool if he thinks Sou Mei will not kill him in the most brutal way if he destroys me before she has a go at me."

Draco nodded. "Seems like everyone's out to get you, Hu Li, doesn't it? Your mother, Luis Perone, Marcus Flint – how about the Dark Lord to liven things up?"

Hu li said absently, "Sorry to disappoint you. All I am to Voldemort is Sou Mei's pathetic daughter. He has better things to worry about."

Madam Rosmerta came sailing out with their dinners and a cool look on her face. Hu Li 

managed a tiny smile at Madam Rosmerta, who sniffed but smiled back. 

They ate in swift silence, both neither saying but both understanding that they needed to get out of the Three Broomsticks before Luis spotted either of them. 

Draco wolfed down his prime rib and darted up to the bar to pay so they could get out fast. Hu 

Li kept her back to Luis and did not dare turn around for fear that he would spot her. However, he seemed to be intent upon his dinner – probably an extra-rare steak.

Then she heard him mutter to Harrison, "Maybe I wouldn't be so interested in the Chinese half-blood if she didn't shame me in front of all the other diplomats. She treated me like a four-year-old – I, Luis Perone! I'm ten centuries older than her and she treats _me_ like a child? No one attacks me with impunity – not even Sou Mei's daughter."

Hu Li sat still, hardly daring to breathe. What an idiot she was – she should have known not to disgrace him – even Professor McGonagall warned her! Now he wanted her dead – just another name to add to the list that was growing steadily longer, she thought bleakly.

Draco came sneaking back, going the long way around so as to avoid giving Luis Perone a direct view of him. Hu Li put down her fork and left her meal half-finished, having lost her appetite. 

"You know, you really have to start eating properly," Draco informed her.

Hu Li said distastefully, "Is this really the time?"

He thought about that. "Later," he muttered, and tugged at her sleeve. They both slipped their hoods over their heads and slunk out of the pub. When they were out into the chilly September winds they both relaxed slightly. 

"Come on," said Hu Li. "I'd like to see the joke shop and Honeydukes."

Draco stared at her as if she was just slightly loony. "Hu Li," he said patiently. "There is a mad Argentinean vampire in there who desires nothing more than to drain you dry and send pieces of you through owl post around Britain. I really don't think it would be advisable to wander around Hogsmeade. We can go back later. It will be here for quite a long time – _you_ won't."

"How encouraging," she said. "It'll take two minutes, Draco, I just want to see the shops. He won't go in them – he's probably going find a _real_ dinner after the Three Broomsticks." She stamped her foot. "Ooh, I knew he was still in with Voldemort! He's been forming alliances with the younger vampires for a few years – I bet he's getting ready to organize something evil and underhanded. I'll have to tell Old Niccolo."

"Hu Li," he said sternly. "Let's go. I'll leave you here to wander around lost for years if you don't come back to school – I mean it."

Hu Li heaved a long-suffering sigh but followed Draco reluctantly up to the castle.

When they were making their way up to the main gate of the castle, she wasn't exactly watching where she was walking. A tree root was sticking out of the uneven ground in a place that a tree root had no business being. She tripped over it, flying forward with a cry. She ended up saving her face from total annihilation with her hands, but it hurt – not to mention her back had been broken not twenty-four hours ago.

Draco said, "Nice one, klutz. Are you okay?" He held out a hand and helped her to her feet.

"Oww," she said, wincing. "My knees."

Suddenly Draco's attention was drawn to Hu Li's throat. His forehead furrowed and he said, "What is this?"

Hu Li looked down at herself. Lamia's medallion, normally tucked into her robes, was hanging out, its fine gold chain tangled in a piece of her hair. It must have fallen out when she tripped, she realized.

"Oh," she said, trying to stuff it back in her robes before he asked where she got it. "That. Yes. Er -"

A curious look came over his face. "No," he said softly. "Let me see that."

Draco turned it over to the front – the side that read "Morituri te salutamus." His eyes widened and he drew in his breath. "Where did you get this? Why are you wearing it?" he asked sharply.

Hu Li lied nervously, wondering why he was acting so strange, "Somewhere in London." She couldn't possibly tell him Dumbledore gave it to her; he'd want to know why, and that was a secret. "Why?"

Draco turned and looked into the leaden sky. He said quietly, "The phrase on the front – it's Latin. It means, 'we who are about to die salute you.' " 

Hu Li swallowed unpleasantly. Had Dumbledore known what a wrong thing he had done in giving it to her? Or had he wanted her to come to terms with the inevitable?

Draco added blandly, "It's what the Roman gladiators used to shout when they entered the arena."

Hu Li's mind was blank. Was it a mistake – or a _prediction_?

Before they went in the door, Draco stopped and said gravely, "Hu Li, I know that you think anything after Sou Mei is nothing, but I know this: Luis Perone is every bit as evil he thinks himself to be. He believes he wields more power even than the Phoenix and he will not hesitate to kill you. Stay away from him and watch your back."

Then he turned and walked in the door. Hu Li followed him in, but she paused on the threshold and turned to look behind her before going in the door.


	8. Acquainted With the Night

VIII - Acquainted with the Night

VIII –Acquainted with the Night

Hu Li stole carefully up the back staircase to the hospital wing. It was very dark and even the glow from her wand only illuminated the first two feet in front of her. Everywhere else was complete blackness.

She managed the stairs, though, by using her keen perception of shadows and her sharp, light-sensitive eyes. She slipped back into the hospital wing without making a sound and pulled on her nightdress in the dark.

Hu Li sank gratefully into her bed, and laid her head on the pillow. The last thing she saw before falling asleep were Luis Perone's mad mocha eyes, dancing cruelly before the darkness under her eyelids.

And Hu Li dreamed.

Once again she was alone. She was in a dark room and she had a feeling it was somewhere in the castle. She was wearing her nice red silk embroidered bathrobe. 

She glanced around herself uneasily, her stomach in knots. There was tension and malice in this air. The atmosphere virtually crackled. The strange thing was that she could neither see nor feel anyone or _anything_. She was literally and figuratively in the dark. Normally even if she couldn't _see_ in such darkness, she would at least be able to perceive her surroundings with her senses. There was nothing – and that was the scary thing.

Suddenly and ominously the lights flicked on and Hu Li found she was in a girl's toilet at Hogwarts. She realized with a start that she was standing across from a mirror. She looked frightened and wide-eyed and pale.

Hu Li walked up to the mirror, fearing that she would see Sou Mei in it again but needing to know. But it was nothing – well, it was merely her scared reflection. 

Hu Li stared at herself, hating what stared back. She wished she did not bear the eerie resemblance to Sou Mei. Because Sou Mei had become a vampire when she was only eighteen, she could be Hu Li's twin - in looks. To look like anything would be better than this, she thought. Sou Mei wore a mask like she did – but hers hid far worse secrets than Hu Li's. What had Draco called it? _Death walking, with a beautiful mask to cover your evil _– she thought it fit Sou Mei more than it fit her.

Tentatively, still watching her scared black eyes, she reached out one of her hands to touch her sad reflection. Hu Li felt sorry for it and its horrid similarity to Sou Mei.

When her finger touched the glass, something happened. The reflection began to shimmer violently and change. 

Hu Li stumbled back, fearing another Sou Mei in the mirror. But the reflection stayed where it was. It did not need to step out of the mirror in order to frighten Hu Li beyond speech.

As the reflection flickered and melted into a new form, Hu Li gasped in horror. The smooth skin melted and rotted. The nose completely decayed off her face, leaving two gaping holes in its absence. The black eyes became a sick yellow with pupils like two slashes of a knife. Red sunbursts of veins cracked the cornea into sections. The teeth turned yellow and cracked and became long fangs. The hair grew draggled and turned gray and dull. Her clothes became ripped rags and her body became hunched and emaciated.

She stared at what her reflection had become – for her physical body was the same as it had always been. It was only the mirror image that changed.

The _thing_ in the mirror let out a wheezing laugh and showed another row of fangs as well as a long purple forked tongue. "Hu Li," it rasped.

Hu Li found she could not speak. She gulped.__

__The thing laughed harder than ever. "Look closely, Hu Li," it hissed, the long tongue flicking in the air. "Look carefully. See what I am – see what _you_ are."

She backed away. "No," she moaned. "I am not you."

It smirked broadly, and it was one of the most horrible things Hu Li had ever seen. "I am your demon. I am the evil inside you that lurks just under the surface. I am the fiend that is awake in your spirit. I am Sou Mei's legacy."

Hu Li put her hands to her face but found she could not look away from the thing. "It is not true," she moaned.

"Oh, yesssss," it hissed. "Look at me, Hu Li. _I am your soul_."

Hu Li stared at the mirror, cold terror gripping every inch of her body. It screamed with laughter. "Feast your eyes, Hu Li," it crooned harshly. "I am the essence that is present behind your every action – your every thought – every sense of your being. It takes nothing to release me – for I am already there! Look carefully, for you look at your soul!" It laughed maniacally. 

Hu Li dropped to her knees, the room spinning before her. She could not open her mouth to speak, but her mind was screaming, w_hat am I?_

Hu Li jerked awake. She was trembling uncontrollably. Her head pounded with the drums of demons. She realized no one else was awake; at least she had not woken anyone up this time. 

Hu Li lay in bed with her eyes closed, feeling dizzy and weak. She prayed, _let Sou Mei just kill me right now – I can't tolerate these nightmares any longer_. She had a splitting headache and suspected that she was becoming ill. This has to stop, she thought. I'll have to tell Dumbledore.

She coughed and decided that she would go to Dumbledore at lunch and tell him everything – about her dreams and seeing Luis Perone and how Sou Mei had sent her a letter and a dagger – and she would ask about his reasoning for giving her the medallion. Tomorrow, she decided. She slid out of bed and over to her trunk. Opening a small hidden compartment on the side, she took out a little glass vial. This was all of her Dreamless Sleep potion that she had allowed herself to take to Britain with her to use in an especially desperate situation. 

It was never handier than it was that night.

***

That morning Madam Pomfrey said cheerfully, "Sleep well, Hu Li?"

Hu Li sniffled and went rummaging in her pockets for a handkerchief. She had a roaring head cold – a true rarity with her; it was a mark of how distressed she was these days that she actually became ill. Madam Pomfrey's Good Health Head Cold potion that Hu Li had requested had not yet taken effect. "Yes," she lied hoarsely, wincing at the sound of her voice. "Quite well."

Madam Pomfrey smiled at her. "Wonderful! You're adjusting to Hogwarts very nicely."

Hu Li cracked a weak smile and coughed. She was drinking a steaming cup of British black tea. It was actually good tea, she admitted reluctantly – nothing like China Green, but not terribly bad. 

An owl came swooping in the window as Hu Li pressed a hand to her temple. A letter came close to splashing into her tea, and she was in the process of glaring at the mail owl when it struck her that the letter was for her.

Hu Li stared down at it, her headache becoming suddenly worse. She did not want to open it – she had a feeling she knew who had sent it, and it was not her father. He had sent her one letter a long time ago by way of Professor Dumbledore and probably did not see the need to send any others - after all, he didn't know what was going on.

Hu Li took a deep breath and picked up the envelope. Her throat closed involuntarily when she read the postmark and she choked on her tea. _Toulouse, France._

Sou Mei was across the sea. She was nearer than Hu Li had believed – right in France. Hu Li felt sick. This was not good.

She was sorely tempted to just throw it away and not read it, but she didn't think she could bear not knowing. It was another example of the two sides of knowledge – the desire to know, and the desire to never know.

Hu Li slowly tore open the letter. It was short – one line. It read simply in English, _Closer and closer, all the time_. Then there was a Chinese character at the bottom – the symbol for destiny.

Quickly Hu Li folded it up and stuffed it in her pocket. She slumped and sniffled, feeling immensely gloomy. Could my life be any worse, she wondered briefly. Yes, she answered herself nearly right away – how about if Hermione and Ron and Harry found out about you?

Good point, she replied.

She then dragged herself out of bed – the Potion was just starting to work – and began to dress. As she wound her long hair into a messy plait, she thought about her imprisonment. Madam Pomfrey had pursed her lips and shook her head when Hu Li begged to go back to school. She had, however, allowed her to go down to breakfast, if only to talk to her friends, who had been instructed not to visit her. Hu Li was to return to the hospital wing immediately after breakfast was over.

Hu Li had to shuffle down about a hundred flights of stairs to the Great Hall. In the end, Hu Li broke the school rules just a bit and performed a Floating Charm so that she could simply drift down to breakfast.

It was rather pleasant, just gliding about the halls, although the sick feeling did not dissipate – she was not blessed with a short memory, most unfortunately. She broke the charm and trudged into breakfast.

From the high table, Snape gave her a tight little smile and a sympathetic nod as she walked to the Gryffindor table. Snape understood her, she thought, just like Draco. They were two very misunderstood people – Draco was nasty and sarcastic because that was all he had ever learned, and Snape was unpleasant because of fear. 

It was Voldemort, she thought sadly. Everything came back to Voldemort. And Sou Mei had taken part in the bloodbath, had done her share – perhaps more than her share – of killing and torturing. The only reason she had left the Dark Lord's service was because she disliked someone else being in supreme power. Sou Mei liked to be the boss.

When Hermione spotted Hu Li trudging across the Great Hall, she leapt up and ran over to her. "Hu Li!" she said happily. "Madam Pomfrey let you out?"

Hu Li nodded. "Just for breakfast," she said throatily – this potion evidently didn't improve the acoustic quality of her voice. "No Quidditch for another few days, though." She followed Hermione back to the table.

Fred Weasley looked up from his bacon and said in delight, "Hu Li! Fabulous seeing you 

alive!"

Hermione aimed one of her most ferocious glares at him and he winced. "Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean it like that."

"No offense taken," she told him.

Ron grinned and said, "Hey HL, did you get my card?"

Hermione said through gritted teeth, "It's _Hu Li_, not HL, Ronald. Would you like me calling you RW?"

Ron shrugged. Hu Li said anxiously, "No really, it's okay. I don't mind." She took a seat and poured herself another cup of tea.

Harry said happily, "So when are you going to start Quidditch? Practices start next week."

Hermione said stiffly, "Harry, I think you're being very insensitive," but Hu Li said, "Ooh, I don't know, but I can't wait!"

Hermione looked at Hu Li very sternly and Hu Li patted her on the shoulder. "Herm," she said, "it's all right. I'm fine now – the only reason I'm still stuck in the hospital wing is to get some (I think) well-deserved rest. And hey, Madam Pomfrey said," and here she affected a very stiff British accent, "that I may now have visitors as of this afternoon, but only if they are _very_ quiet and do _not_ bring food or games or joke shop merchandise into the hospital wing, as we have ill students and such paraphernalia may inhibit their health even more."

George Weasley grinned. "Magnificent, we'll bring you some real food from the kitchens and some stuff from Zonko's then. Oh and Hu Li, I don't think you have to worry about Marcus Flint blitzing you on your broom anymore – Professor Dumbledore suspended him and owled his parents about it, but there's no way he can definitely prove he was trying to kill you. Good old Dumbledore says if he so much as breathes on you - in air, land, or water - he's _out _of the school."

Harry said in disgust, "He should have been _out_ a long time ago – all the times he's cheated at Quidditch before, it's revolting."

Ron reminded him, "You can't have everything."

"Unfortunately," said Harry. "'Cos, you know, I'd love a solid gold toilet seat in our dorm."

Hu Li said sharply, "Oh, you wouldn't want _that_, those things are so cold in the winter."

Everyone stared at her. She laughed, feeling almost normal. Hermione shook her head, wearing a stern look that would have made Madam Pomfrey jealous, but she smiled as well. 

Just then the bell rang, indicating the tables would be cleared in five minutes. Hu Li's good feeling from being with her friends began to dissolve. George and Fred dashed out of the Great Hall, muttering something to Harry about a map and visiting Hu Li.

As Hu Li went to stand, she heard someone approach her from behind. "How nice," said a bored and only slightly sneering voice. "Hu Li Zhang is out of recovery and back with all her fellow Gryffs."

Hu Li shut her eyes. "God help us all, it's the Malfoy Heir," she said without turning and without any particular malice.

"You peeked," he said mildly, and ambled over to Ron's plate, from which he plucked a piece of toast and munched on it for a moment.

Ron was looking sorely irritated. "Get the hell away from me, Malfoy, before I catch whatever nasty disease made you so horrid."

"Surely you refer only to my prickly personality and not my smashing good looks and polished wit," said Draco amiably. "How's the sickly?"

"Not as sickly as I was this morning," said Hu Li croakily.

Draco frowned. "What did Poppy do to you, remove your tonsils? You sound like you swallowed a troll."

"Damn near," said Hu Li, watching Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

All three of them were looking very astonished at Draco. Here he was with about hundred Gryffindors to make fun of and yet he was being what could almost be termed _civil_. Harry said incredulously, "Hey, Malfoy? Is this the real one, or were you replaced by an alien clone last night?"

"Nah, nothing so exciting," replied Draco easily. "It's just that I was thinking -"

"There's a change," muttered Hermione.

He stopped. "I'll let that slide. Well, I was thinking last night when Hu Li and I were playing strip poker with Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall-"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione drew back with identical horrified looks on their faces. Hu Li laughed. "Get on with it, Draco," she said, wondering, wow, is this what fun feels like?

"Yes, anyway, so I was just watching Snape take off his pretty pink undies when I thought -"

"Draco, that's enough," said Hu Li sternly. "You're taking me to scary mental places."

"All right, lead an unfulfilled life then," he said agreeably. "I just decided that I have been mean enough to you three lately, and that I can't guarantee that I won't make fun of you, because I sure as _hell_ am going to, but I suppose I just will be more choosy about what I mock you for. No more 'Weasley's so poor' jokes, no more 'Granger's just a Muggle with magic,' no more 'Potter is a stupid prat who's got his head stuck up his ass most of the time and thinks that he is supreme ruler of the wizarding world and that he is Houdini reincarnate on a broomstick- "

Harry said irritably, "Do you think you'll get to the point sometime today, Malfoy?"

Draco said, yawning, "Sarcasm suits you even less than that attractive scar on your forehead, Potter. In conclusion, I have decided to be, for want of a better word, _nicer_ to you three. But don't excite yourselves unnecessarily, because I will still be rude and obnoxious and bitchy, just not quite mean." He glared round the table. "Got that?" His eyes caught Hu Li's for a mere moment, but she understood. He really was a good friend, she thought, he just needed a little polishing-up every now and then.

Draco drew himself up. "All right then. I have better things to do than giggle and gossip with the Gryffindor ladies." He grinned only slightly nastily at Ron and Harry, who both looked faintly murderous. "Well, my boys await. Ta-ta, girls!" He strutted off to where Crabbe and Goyle were standing and looking confused.

Hu Li snorted with laughter and had to pretend to be having a coughing fit when Harry and Ron glared at her. Hermione said passionately, "And if that isn't the weirdest guy I've ever met, may lightning strike me dead right here."

"He _is_ weird," said Hu Li. "But he's nice, sometimes, and he's willing to turn over a new leaf. He just has strange ways of showing it – all that stuff about Snape and pink underwear, I thought I was about to die laughing -"

"I was just going to _die_, period," said Harry darkly. "I think that took about ten years off my life – that and him making fun of us while he was telling us that he _wasn't_ going to make fun of us."

Hu Li stood up. "Well, he did say he was still going to ridicule you, just not in a cruel way. Now I've got to get upstairs before Madam Pomfrey has my head."

Ron gave one last shudder, muttering something about "scarred for life", and then added, "We'll come to visit you tonight, HL."

Hu Li waved and headed up the stairs. As she mounted the stairs, her laughter died inside her. She wondered, would it ever return? It seemed the higher she got, the worse she began to feel. What had happened to her amusement of only moments ago? At the breakfast table she had almost – _almost_ – forgotten about Sou Mei. Now her feeling of cold dread was coming back to her. It would be soon that Sou Mei came for her. As she walked, she could feel the dagger against her thigh – but it wasn't enough reassurance that she would at least live.

She was so contradictory! She didn't want Sou Mei to kill her, but she still wanted to die! That's because, she told herself in despair, you do not want to die at the hands of Sou Mei – you just want to die a nonviolent death. She groaned inwardly. Draco wasn't the weirdest person she knew – she was.

She turned the corner to go into the hospital wing and paused, thinking about something. Then she turned back resolutely and walked into the girl's toilet that was right next to the hospital wing.

Hu Li scuffled to the mirror at the other end and went right up to it. She stared at herself. It was absolutely frightening – minus the dark circles under her eyes and the pink nose and the disheveled hair, and she was the exact replica of Sou Mei – apart from the eye color, of course.

Suddenly Hu Li was filled with rage. She vowed fiercely that she would _not_ be mistaken for her mother! She wrenched her hair out of the plait it was in. She bent down swiftly and yanked her knife out of its holder. Hu Li held her hair in one hand and her knife in her left and then – just like that – hacked her hair violently off.

As the knife sliced through the air with a whistling noise, a pile of black hair dropped to the tiled floor with a whisper. Hu Li stared at her new reflection –her hair no longer hung down her back, but was about level with her larynx. The edges were jagged and uneven, but Hu Li decided she liked it that way. 

She stood, breathing hard, staring at the mirror for several minutes. Her hair was not long like Sou Mei's anymore. No more was she Sou Mei's mirror image. No more would she be haunted by nightmares of a murdering doppelganger. No more would she be mistaken for a monster.


	9. Mother is Another Word for Love

IX – Mother is Another Word for Love

IX – Mother is Another Word for Love 

Hu Li stretched lazily. It was nearly lunchtime. She had written a letter to her father after breakfast, but it probably wouldn't reach him for another day. Then she had slaved over her homework for several hours – Hermione had sent it up by school owl with a note promising that she would come visit after lunch. _Now_ – now it was time to go see Dumbledore.

Rising, Hu Li pulled on her shoes and her cloak – the castle was rather chilly – and slipped out the door. She was hoping that it wouldn't take that long and that she would be back before Madam Pomfrey noticed she was gone.

Hu Li made her way down the stone staircase and found the gargoyle statue. She gave the password and slid through the entrance when it lurched open. 

She walked down the hallway carefully, glancing behind her every few steps. She disliked being trapped in the long corridor – it was a prime place for anyone to attack. When you were in this corridor, someone could come out of any of these hundreds of doors and creep up behind you and just --- She didn't like to think of it.

Finally she reached when she thought was Dumbledore's room. The door was shut tightly and she could hear a faint murmur coming from inside – so soft that even her sharp hearing could not discern any words.

Hu Li raised a hand to knock and then hesitated. What if she was disturbing something very important? Just then she heard a noise behind her and she whirled around, her hand on the dagger beneath her cloak.

It was Professor McGonagall. She said in surprise, "What's this? Zhang? What are you doing out of bed?"

"Er," Hu Li stuttered. "I – er, I wanted to see Professor Dumbledore."

McGonagall's eyes grew narrow. "The professor is very busy, Zhang. He cannot see you now. Why did you need to see him?"

She could never tell McGonagall, Hu Li realized. McGonagall was not the same as Dumbledore – in mentality or sympathy. "Well," said Hu Li nervously, "I just wanted to ask him something about – about the next step for me."

McGonagall said briskly, "Oh, if that's all you wanted, I can tell you that. The wizards and the vampires will be meeting sometime this month and you are to attend as a conciliator. Then each party, it was decided, will make their own final decision. The wizards requested that you will not be at their final decision – perhaps they are afraid you will turn traitor – but the vampires would like to have you with them. Is that agreeable to you?"

Hu Li swallowed, her mind off Dumbledore for the moment. The vampires wanted her with them – lovely. It was probably Luis Perone that requested her presence- with a little pre-conference snack in mind. She said vaguely, "Fine with me."

"And if that's all you wanted," said the professor sternly, "then it's back to bed for you."

"Yes," said Hu Li hopelessly. McGonagall opened the gargoyle for her and shooed her into the corridor.

Hu Li walked back to the hospital wing slowly, thinking. She could not see Dumbledore now. She would have to go sometime tonight, when McGonagall was not patrolling the corridor. She felt an ominous sensation of trepidation in the pit of her stomach – rather as if she had swallowed a large, cold stone.

Hu Li slid back in the door to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey had her back turned and probably did not even miss her. 

Hu Li sat on her bed. Suddenly she felt lonely and very miserable – her friends were at classes, her father had not gotten her last letter yet, Dumbledore could not see her, Luis Perone was out for her blood, the Phoenix was coming for her very soon. Life was good, she thought dismally. 

She sighed and stood up, thinking that at least she could fix her hair in the bathroom to look somewhat more presentable. A she stood, she felt Lamia's pendant clink on the chain around her neck. Yeah, she thought angrily, and what's that supposed to mean? _We who are about to die salute you – _how heartening. No wonder he never explained what it meant – but then it occurred to her that she had never asked. Had she known already but feared confirmation of her suspicion? She didn't know. 

Hu Li picked up her comb off her bedside table and shuffled out the door to the bathroom next door. She pushed open the door to the bathroom and walked in drearily to the long row of sinks and the room-length mirror above them all. 

She stared at herself in the mirror, displeased with the face that still resembled Sou Mei. At least the hair made things a little better, she thought. Now no one can mistake me for her. Madam Pomfrey's Good Health Head Cold potion had also worked wonders – the under-eye shadows had disappeared and her nose was no longer red. Although she had rather liked the signs of illness – they made her appear more human and less like Sou Mei.

Hu Li sighed and began combing her shorter hair, still staring into the mirror as if she expected it to change like in her dream. But it didn't.

Then Hu Li dropped the comb onto the floor. She muttered, "Damn", and bent over to pick it up. As she straightened back up, she thought she heard a rustling noise from behind her.

She glanced into the wall mirror, which reflected the whole room. Nothing. No one. The place was empty except for her. Hu Li began combing again, and the comb made a whispering noise as it pulled through her hair. 

Wait a minute, she thought suddenly. That sound wasn't her comb. It was a soft whispering echoing around the desolate bathroom. Hu Li swallowed and began to feel just a tiny bit frightened. She continued to comb faster, watching the mirror, and the noise turned into a very quiet, hissing laugh, but then died immediately.

Hu Li's hand shook. The comb skittered through her hair. Hu Li still stared into the mirror, her eyes scanning the bathroom behind her. She was at a middle sink. There was one door to her right, four sinks away. There were twelve toilet stalls behind her, all of their doors hanging loosely open. There was no one in the bathroom. And yet – 

Hu Li slowly laid the comb on the edge of the sink. Slowly, still watching the mirror, she took a step back and slowly turned to look behind her.

In the split second that she was not looking in the mirror, something with the strength of fifty black belts grabbed her from behind and jerked her neck back so that she was looking in the mirror again. To her absolute horror, she saw staring back at her two identical Chinese girls – except one had black eyes and short hair and one had long hair and eyes like bitter sapphires, and one looked extremely frightened and the other wore a sneer. The blue-eyed girl had her ice-cold hands wrapped tightly around the black-eyed girl's throat.

Sou Mei laughed low, her mouth right next to Hu Li's ear, so that the laughter seemed to echo around Hu Li's brain. She had been taken by surprise. There was no way she could get her dagger. She could not move in the vise-like grip. Sou Mei had won, she thought numbly. But then, Sou Mei always won.

Sou Mei purred in Chinese, still watching the mirror like Hu Li, "We look so much alike, my daughter. We could be sisters, could we not?"

Hu Li could not take her eyes off the mirror – the perfect portrait of mother and daughter. She knew that the myth was untrue – vampires _do_ cast a reflection. She could not speak a word. It was her worst nightmare, come true – the nightmare that she didn't even allow herself to dream about. 

Sou Mei said, now in English, "Are you not going to say hello to your Niang? It has been so long since we have seen each other – twelve years, no?" She laughed. "Although twelve years is not long at all when you have lived for ten thousand."

Hu Li choked out, "Why have you come for me?"

Sou Mei said in mock-indignation, "You do not mean that Lo has told you nothing! I have come to see what sort of vampire you measure up to be – or do _not_ measure up to be. You received my letters and my gift?"

Hu Li nodded, fearing that she would faint. Sou Mei's grip on her throat was becoming tighter.

Sou Mei smiled at her. "A nasty fall off a broomstick, or so my sources told me? You really should be more careful. You could have died," she added, and watched Hu Li turn white as porcelain in the mirror.

Hu Li sucked in a breath, still shaking in Sou Mei's steel grasp. Sou Mei whispered delightedly, "You are not very talkative, my daughter. What is wrong?" 

Hu Li managed, "I am afraid." She knew it was useless to pretend she wasn't – Sou Mei could read every thought running through her head, she was sure.

"Afraid?" said Sou Mei softly. She stared deep into the mirror – at her swift white fingers wrapped around Hu Li's throat, at the horrified face that watched her sapphire eyes narrowed in thought. 

Sou Mei's fingers tightened and she whispered, looking in the mirror, "Do you know what the _scariest_ thing in the world is?"

Hu Li didn't answer. She only stared into the mirror at Sou Mei and the hands around her throat – hands that would any second now be murdering her.

Sou Mei hissed, "_Nothing_."

Hu Li's eyes widened and she looked directly into the blue eyes in the mirror. She whispered, "What do you mean?"

Sou Mei said softly, "You heard me, Hu Li. _Nothing_. It is absolute void of everything, total emptiness, that you fear most. It is not the feeling of hate, or evil. It is the _complete_ _absence_ of feeling. That is what you are afraid to see in me, but most especially in yourself."

Hu Li's heart lurched into her throat and then down into her stomach. She swallowed, feeling as if she were choking on her heart.

Sou Mei said abruptly, "Enough with the small talk." She released Hu Li, who went staggering into the sinks, gasping. Hu Li tried to straighten up. Sou Mei was glaring at her. Her hair was twisted up into two glass chopsticks.

Sou Mei said, "I want to show you something." She turned her back to Hu Li but still watched her, using the mirror. She pulled up the black silk robe she was wearing to reveal an intricate tattoo on her lower back. It was a beautiful flaming phoenix with two Chinese characters on either side of it. One was destiny. The other was strength.

Sou Mei dropped her robe and turned back with a smile on her face. Hu Li stood, dumb with horror. Sou Mei said, "Beautiful, is it not? I wanted another one on my shoulder, but it was too late; the artist was already dead of an opium overdose. He was brilliant even in the depths of a drug-induced stupor. His blood was very sweet - from the opium in it."

"You killed him?" said Hu Li quietly.

Sou Mei shook her head in sorrow, and for a fleeting moment looked like a sad little girl – which, when one thought of the demon behind the mask, just made her all the more terrifying. "He had been dead not fifteen minutes when I reached his home. His blood was still warm. I thought it a shame to waste it."

Hu Li could not suppress a shudder. Sou Mei looked at her strangely. "What's wrong?" she hissed. "You think I am repulsive? No, darling, it _you_ who disgusts _me_. You are not a true vampire. You are revoltingly human in your emotions, but sadly a vampire's senses have been wasted on you."

Hu Li lost it then. She screamed at her mother, "You think I enjoy being what I am? You think I would like to be a full-blood? I would give anything to be human! I hate what I am, and I hate you for making me this way!"

Sou Mei's glittering eyes grew very narrow. "You sicken me," she snarled. "No pride, no bloodlust, mortality, and having humans only for company – how can you stand it?"

The two stood facing each other in the cold stone bathroom. Hu Li was angry now. She snapped, "I _like_ it – my only problem is that I was born to a demon."

Sou Mei snorted. "In that case, then, better a contented demon than a miserable angel."

"And that's where you're wrong," Hu Li spat. "I would rather be the miserable angel."

Sou Mei's azure eyes were aflame in the innocent face that could have belonged to a young girl. She said very slowly, her eyes on Hu Li, "I was almost afraid that I was going to regret my recent rendezvous to Hong Kong. But now I am glad."

Hu Li bit her tongue and tasted her own blood. It tasted like death. "What were you doing in Hong Kong?" she said in a whisper, hating her mother all the more for making her ask.

Sou Mei laughed – a horrible laugh. "I paid a little visit to an old friend – or should I say, an old husband."

It felt like Hu Li's heart stopped. She said desperately, knowing full well the answer, _"My father?"_

"Yes, foolish girl," said her mother, sneering at Hu Li. "Did you not wonder why your last few letters were never answered? China is not _that_ far away. Do not lie to yourself."

Hu Li stared at Sou Mei. She couldn't deal with it this, and Sou Mei knew it. Sou Mei knew what she was doing all along. The smile on her face grew wider as she watched Hu Li exhale a shaky breath. It seemed to Hu Li that it was her whole life draining out of her in that one breath. She turned from Sou Mei and bowed her head. She could not fight her. She would never win. She would lose – just as her father had lost.

Sou Mei chuckled. "Lost our resolve, did we? I thought I'd raised you better than that."

Hu Li raised her head. Suddenly she was incredibly angry – afraid, but very angry as well. "You didn't raise me at all," she snapped. "My father did. That's why I turned out better than you did." She turned back to face Sou Mei, who looked only slightly nonplussed.

"That was the wrong thing to tell me," Hu Li said sharply. "Now I am ready to fight you." She wrenched her dagger out of its holder on her leg and held it in her left hand.

Sou Mei sneered at her. "Darling, you cannot win. Why bother?"

"Because you killed my father," spat Hu Li. "And because those who have nothing for which to die have nothing for which to live."

"Truly a noble sentiment," said Sou Mei, smiling at her. "Do you want to know how your father died?"

Hu Li threw herself blindly at her mother, slashing through the air with her dagger. Sou Mei let out an unearthly shriek and caught the dagger as it was coming down, and then shoved Hu Li with such force that she flew across the room and hit the mirror. Her vision went black when her head whacked the mirror – reminiscent of the Quidditch tryouts. Cracks splintered out around her, breaking up and distorting the two girls. For a moment Hu Li didn't know which was Sou Mei and which was her own reflection.

Hu Li leaned against the mirror where she had landed on the floor, watching Sou Mei's look of contempt grow. Her back was hurting like anything and she could feel the blood start to trickle down her spine from the glass cuts. "Stupid, stupid girl," Sou Mei said. "I will be nice and allow you to fight with the dagger – for now, anyway." She advanced on Hu Li. "Any last thoughts?"

Hu Li said bitterly, "I think 'Die, bitch, die, die' pretty much sums it up."

"You'll pay dearly for that, my beautiful girl," breathed Sou Mei. Hu Li attempted to stand but Sou Mei was too quick. She pulled Hu Li up by the front of her robes as if she were feather-light and hurled her against the adjacent wall. 

Sou Mei held her there, locking eyes with Hu Li. The bathroom was silent for a moment in which Hu Li wondered frantically where Madam Pomfrey was that she couldn't hear the noise. Then Sou Mei chuckled. "You have your father's eyes, love. Strong, compassionate, brave, trusting. He died nobly, you know," she sneered. "He did not die begging for mercy. Indeed, he was bringing his machete down on me as the final blow when I broke both of his legs. He was immobilized after that. No, listen!" she hissed demonically as Hu Li struggled in agony. "He was losing a lot of blood very quickly from a machete wound in his side, as well. He could no longer move and was in excruciating pain." Hu Li shut her eyes and willed herself not to cry in front of her mother. "He would not beg me to kill him, as so many others have. He merely pleaded with me not to come after you – although that was absolutely useless. He told me that he knew things about you that would make me dread fighting you. He was lying. You are no stronger than he was and you will die just as he did." Sou Mei ripped the dagger out of Hu Li's tightly closed hand, slicing the palm wide open. Hu Li did not cry out.

Sou Mei yanked Hu Li to face the mirror and held her in one hand, the dagger at Hu Li's throat in the other. "Aren't you blessed," whispered Sou Mei in her ear as they both stared into the mirror, "to have such a delightful family. Father dead, mother a vampire, all other relations either demons of hell or angels in heaven."

Hu Li stared at Sou Mei in the mirror. "We cannot choose our family," she said in a low voice. "I am cursed with an unhappy family, but I am blessed with much knowledge and a great appreciation of life - and death."

Sou Mei looked slightly startled at this, and she turned her head to look away from the mirror and at Hu Li's face. Hu Li took advantage of this – Sou Mei could not see what her body was doing. With strength born of nerves and sorrow and anger, she slipped out of Sou Mei's grasp. She pivoted and, propelling herself into the air, executed a strong, swift kick into Sou Mei's ribcage.

Sou Mei had not completely been taken by surprise; she had backed up when she had seen Hu Li rise into the air and had saved Hu Li's foot from crushing her ribcage and her heart. But the kick had still caught her directly in the face. There was a sharp _crack _as Sou Mei's nose broke, and blood blossomed over her ivory face.

Sou Mei swore in Chinese. She actually stumbled, holding her face and dropping the dagger. Hu Li was shocked, but immediately the blood stopped flowing and Sou Mei straightened up. She was furious, and with the blood all over her face, she looked like a vampire who was disturbed while taking her dinner.

Her nose had already repaired itself. Sou Mei cried, "I was going to kill you quickly, but for that you will die a slow death!" Quick as a cat, she whipped out a hand and reclaimed the knife, which had been lying on the floor. 

Hu Li swallowed. Her back was aching, but the blood had dried and the wounds had healed themselves. She wondered what her father had been talking about – that he knew secrets about his daughter that would make Sou Mei dread killing her. Had he merely been bluffing? she wondered. Or did she indeed have something left that even she herself did not know?

Sou Mei bared her teeth, snarling, and began to circle Hu Li. Hu Li, shaking like the devil, followed suit to stall for time, still racking her brains for what her father had been referring to. What did she have that she didn't realize she had? she thought in confusion. She couldn't think of anything. Her ribs were aching too from being broken – but they had healed as well, leaving only the slight pain behind.

Healed … Suddenly it struck her – maybe what her father had been talking about – what if it was something that _Sou Mei_ did not know, but Hu Li did? What if Hu Li had one more wild card to play? What if it were merely her powers of _healing?___

Hu Li dared hardly to think it. How could it be that Sou Mei did not know she could heal of all her wounds? But she reminded herself that Sou Mei had not been around after Hu Li was about two – and even if she knew that Hu Li could heal of small cuts, she did not know that Hu Li did not _die. Sou Mei thought her accident had been just a fall off a broomstick. __She did not know. _

It was mere chance – mere destiny – that Sou Mei did not know. Destiny - it was symmetrical. It fit.

Sou Mei hissed, a horrific glint in her eyes, "I am going to show you no mercy. You have disappointed me. You are not worthy of the vampire blood running through your veins. You father has not trained you well and you will die miserably, alone and friendless, just as he did."

Hu Li exhaled slowly, praying that this would work and hoping that Draco would explain things to Ron and Hermione and Harry if it didn't. She hoped they would forgive her for lying to them.

Hu Li launched herself into the air and turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees in a roundhouse kick, purposefully aimed so that Sou Mei could dodge. She aimed herself so that when she landed, she would be in prime position for Sou Mei to stab her. She hoped to God that was what Sou Mei was planning on doing.

It worked. As Hu Li's feet hit the floor, she felt a nasty shove of something into her stomach. She sucked in a breath and looked down. The jade handle of the dagger, depicting the phoenix and the tiger fighting, was protruding from her.

Then the pain started. A hot wave of fire seemed to wash over her, and another and another, and she staggered and fell to her knees, gasping. She clutched the dagger, deep inside her, but did not pull it out.

Sou Mei knelt down beside her and stroked her hair. "Poor child," she said softly. "We could have been so close. I could have taught you the ways of the hunt and the ecstasy of blood. We could have spent eternity together in forever bliss. But you disappointed me, my lovely. And now you will join your father among the ranks of the wretched dead." She kissed Hu Li on the head and stood.

Hu Li knelt on the ground, doubled in half so that her forehead touched the ground. She was in extreme pain – nothing she had never felt before, thanks to Jun Tao, but experience did not lessen the pain. 

Her vision began to dim around the edges and for a moment she feared she had been mistaken. Perhaps her survival of the Marcus Flint incident had merely been a lucky break.

But then her vision came back into focus – sharp and clear. Hu Li, aware that Sou Mei was still watching her, gave a sudden choking gasp, and then let her body relax completely. She was legitimately dead.

She saw an immediate flaw in her plan. If Sou Mei stooped down to check if she was truly dead – and Sou Mei had thousands of years experience of the difference between death and life – then she was really dead.

But Sou Me sighed softly and then turned away. Hu Li heard her cross the room to where Hu Li had dropped her comb. Sou Mei picked it up and began combing her hair.

Exercising tremendous caution, Hu Li grasped the dagger and pulled it out slowly. Her slowness made it exceedingly more painful, but she had to be careful her mother didn't hear her. Sou Mei's ears were sharper than the mother of all cats.

Finally the dagger relinquished her flesh. Hu Li raised her head ever so slightly. Sou Mei was about six feet in front of her. She was slowly combing her disheveled hair and staring into the mirror as if she was scrying. She had the oddest look on her face – part sadness, part anger, part hatred, part regret, part triumph.

Hu Li saw that she would have to be extraordinarily quick. She closed her eyes and prayed to her father for guidance. Then she slowly and silently pulled her foot up as if she were going to race someone on foot. She crouched very low to the ground.

Sou Mei put the comb down and stared down into the sink, her face strangely calm and reflective. For one moment Hu Li hesitated. Then she threw herself up and forward with swiftness she did not know she had.

Sou Mei looked up in disbelief as Hu Li came up behind her, the wet crimson dagger pointed directly at Sou Mei's jugular vein. The sapphire eyes widened and the small, sweet mouth opened slightly. "My God," was all she said.

"Your god would never listen to you, should you petition him even now in the hour of your death," said Hu Li, breathing hard. "You are the scourge of centuries, the Phoenix that is associated not with life but with death, the Terror of China. You shed enough blood to fill the seas of the world. You leave an unquenchable trail of tears and death behind you in your wake, wherever you go. You are the thief of life and love and dreams. You have separated innumerable families – including our own. You have stolen away my destiny and my father and twelve years of my life that were spent in utter fear. I am not the only one who has suffered your evil. Just the same, I was wrong before – I cannot hate you. Whatever you are, you are my mother as well. I despise your actions, but I pity the chances you never got, the mortal life you never got to live, the emotions you never allowed yourself to feel."

Sou Mei stared at her in the mirror, her eyes very dark. There was a shadow of sudden and desperate sorrow on her face. She did not turn around. "My daughter," she said quietly.

"Goodbye, my Niang," replied Hu Li. She swung back the dagger, both hands on it, and willed Lamia to grant her strength. Then she sliced the dagger through the air. Down, down, down it whistled – and severed Sou Mei's head off with a whisper.

The disembodied head tumbled onto the floor. The body swayed for a moment and then fell over. Very dark blood, a deep maroon in color, spilled out of the crevices and puddled on the floor.

Hu Li stared at her mother – she was truly dead. She would never wake again. 

The dagger fell out of Hu Li's limp hand and hit the floor with a clatter. She still stared at the body – all that remained of ten thousand years of pain and fear and hatred and bloodshed and death. 

Hu Li's knees gave out and she fell to the floor. She curled up in a ball and sobbed. She cried for the normal life that she would never have, because she would always remain the daughter of a vampire and a murderer. She cried for her honor that her mother had stolen, forcing her to lie to her friends and to steal their trust and to play their emotions. She cried for the twelve years that she had lived in fear, waiting for Sou Mei to kill her as she had done so many others. She cried for the countless people who had died at the hands of her mother. She cried for her father, dead and lost to her forever. She cried also for her mother, the young girl who had become a monster and did not know how to deal with it, and so turned to reveling in murder and death and blood and the fear of others. No one had ever taught Sou Mei honor. No one had ever taught Sou Mei love. No one had ever taught Sou Mei pity.

Hu Li remained curled up in a miserable ball of sorrow for a long time, weeping next to her mother's body.__


	10. Gladiator

X - Gladiator

     Hu Li was staring into the mirror at the face that was now her own – truly her own. Sou Mei's memory may live on through her face, she thought, but never again would anyone think she was Sou Mei. Sou Mei was truly dead. Hu Li had been in the girl's toilet for nearly an hour, alone with her mother's body, and it had not moved once. Her jade knife that she has given to Hu Li had been her own doom as well.

     Hu Li sighed – a long shuddering sigh. She looked horrid – her eyes were bloodshot and shadowed. Her lips were cracked and parched from so many fallen tears. There was a terrible dark stain of blood down the front of her robes – blood that would never wash out. She gazed into the mirror, a lump of sadness in her throat. Her father was gone. Her mother was dead. What was she going to do?

     She raised a hand and pressed it against the glass, watching the girl in the mirror do the same. The girl looked tired and wretched and lonely – not the image of a triumphant gladiator, glowing golden with victory. That image was an illusion, Hu Li thought bitterly. Death could never bring complete happiness. 

     Hu Li glanced back at the dagger on the floor. _Lugala_, it read. Suddenly it clicked with Hu Li. _Lugala_ was Latin for "cut throat." She swallowed. How appropriate.

     Just then Hu Li heard a slight noise and soft mutters outside the door to the toilet. She froze, her dark eyes staring into the mirror, wide with fright. What would she do if anyone came in and found Sou Mei, dead on the floor? 

     Just then, someone did come in. It was Hermione.

     The first and only thing she saw was the body – or rather, the body and the head, lying several feet away. She cried out, "Oh, Hu Li, no!" Hermione sunk to her knees, moaning, her head in her hands.

     Then Draco Malfoy came crashing in. He was looking worried and then, when he saw the body, stunned. His jaw dropped open and his eyes were horrified. They traveled across the room to Hu Li, standing at the mirror.

     The expression on his face changed into a mixture of anger and fear and loathing. "The Phoenix!" he hissed.

     Hu Li felt as though cold iron fingers had suddenly plunged into her and and dreadfully been wrapped around her heart. She stood, staring stupidly at Draco, unable to say anything, yet understanding horribly what was going on. What an irony, she thought miserably. 

     Draco snarled, "You killed her!" He took a step towards her and then dove for the dagger on the floor.

     He pointed the dagger at Hu Li, who could do nothing but stare at him. "If you move," he spat, "I'll -" 

     Then he stopped, his eyes raking Hu Li's face up and down. His eyebrows shot up and he said softly and disbelievingly, "Hu Li?"

     Hu Li wetted her parched lips and nodded. He though I was Sou Mei, she thought. He thought that Sou Mei killed me. She felt suddenly faint. That could just as easily _be_ you dead, she told herself. What if…?

     Draco dropped the dagger onto the floor, a dark look on his face. "I – I'm very sorry," he said blankly, comprehension beginning to dawn on his face. "I thought – standing there –"

     Hermione was also staring at Hu Li, her hands still near half-covering her face. She gulped audibly. "If this is Hu Li," she said slowly, "then who is on the floor?"

     Hu Li sighed, her shoulders slumping. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep off the events of the past three hours. But she owed Hermione the truth. She owed herself the truth.

     Hu Li took another glance into the mirror, still hating the sad face that stared back at her. "Hermione, Draco," she muttered. "This is my mother."

     Draco looked uneasy. Hermione looked confused – that would be a first, thought Hu Li. "Hu Li, you told us your mother was dead," said Hermione.

     "She is now," said Hu Li sadly. "She is never coming back now. But she was very much alive before. Hermione," she said carefully, "do you know who the vampire Sou Mei is?"

     Hermione nodded, looking slightly worried as the implications began to strike her. "Er, yes, she was that horrid ancient Chinese vampire who used to be one of the Dark Lord's biggest supporters. I read a book on her over the summer –" She stopped suddenly. Hu Li shut her eyes and thought she almost heard the _snap!_ of a puzzle piece being put into place. Hermione said slowly, "I remember now – there was a picture in the book– and then in the dorm with Lavender and Cecelia and Parvati – and Snape was so nice to you – and you came back to _life –_ " She scrambled to her feet and backed away against the door, staring wildly at the body on the floor. "Are you saying…?" she whispered, and went on staring.

     "I _am_ saying," said Hu Li, her head pounding with a vengeance. She felt suddenly very dizzy from loss of so much blood and swayed on her feet for a moment, clutching the sink to support her. Draco moved forward to hold her up, but Hermione dragged him back. "Don't you get it?" she shrieked at him. "This is the Phoenix's daughter! She could kill us all just like she killed the Phoenix herself!"

     "Hermione!" Draco said sharply. "Hu Li is no more dangerous than you or I. She had countless opportunities to murder you in your sleep, and to kill me as well. She is only a half-vampire and has no evil intentions whatsoever."

     "How do you know?" she snapped. "She _lied_ to us!"

     "Because I _know_," he said to her. "Now shut up."

     Hermione looked indignant. Hu Li put her face in her hands and said, "Do you understand why I lied to you, Hermione? You would never have accepted me knowing my family. But Draco is not lying – I wish for nothing more than to try to live a normal life. I am someone who does not enjoy where she is or what she is, but I am also someone who is trying to deal with the cards Fate has dealt her. I killed my mother because she was going to kill me – and because she killed my father."

     Hermione's face became repentant. Draco looked devastated. "Hu Li," he said.

     She shook her head violently. "No," she muttered. "Don't talk about it – I have cried for an hour and that solved nothing." She took her hands away from her face and stared at the body on the floor. "Poor Sou Mei," she said softly.

     Draco was thunderstruck. "Hu Li," he said incredulously, "this is the Phoenix we're talking about. She murdered your father – she murdered millions of people for the fun of it! Why do you feel _sorry_ for her?"

     Hu Li stared once more into the mirror – it told no lies and spared no feelings. She didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. "She never knew how to act. No one ever taught her right and wrong. She became a vampire when she was barely eighteen – she didn't know what to do. I can never forgive her for what she has done, but she did not know the right thing. She died wretchedly – killed by her own daughter. I am very sorry for her." She swallowed her tears. "A piece of my soul was severed when I swung that knife down. A part of me died with Sou Mei." She looked down and let out a soft breath.

     Hermione said quietly, "Hu Li, I'm so sorry. I – I didn't know. Please forgive me for – for misjudging you."

     Hu Li closed her eyes but still saw Sou Mei's miserable face staring at her – staring through the mirror as Hu Li brought the knife down on her throat. "I killed my own mother," she said in a barely-audible whisper.

     Hermione came forward and put her arms around Hu Li in a tight hug. Hu Li felt compassion and peace spread through her. Hermione didn't hate her, she thought. "Thank you," she said, sighing.

     Draco said hesitantly, "I hate to break things up, ladies, but what are we going to do with the body?"

     Hu Li opened her eyes and stared at him. "We?"

     Hermione said determinedly, "Yes, we're all in this together, like it or not."

     Hu Li cracked a feeble smile. "You two are the best," she said. "But there's one thing I don't understand – what are you doing wandering around the castle together?" She caught Draco's eye in the mirror and gave him a weak wink.

     He was visibly affronted. "Absolutely _not_," he said haughtily. "I would bloody _die_ before I would – Well, we were looking for you. We cut class and went up to the hospital wing to bring you presents and stuff but you weren't there. We didn't say anything to Poppy, thank heavens, or she'd be in here now too. We heard talked to that sick Hufflepuff and he said he'd heard strange noises from the girl's toilet, so we went to investigate – and found you."

     Hu Li said in amazement, "Hermione, you cut class for me?"

    Hermione said defensively, "We have notes from Professor McGonagall saying that we could go visit you."

     Draco grinned dimly. "Yeah – too bad old McGonagall didn't know she was signing a pass to skive off Potions."

     Hermione cleared her throat and pointed to the floor. "Can we get back to the problem at hand? What are we going to do with – this?"

     Draco said brilliantly, "We could Transfigure it into – er, something."

     "Do you know how to Transfigure humans?" said Hu Li worriedly, glancing at the door. "I think that's sixth year magic."

     Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robes and said in a businesslike way, "Well, I was doing a lot of reading over the summer and I may know how to do it." She squinted at the body, muttered something, and green light shot out of her wand. Suddenly the body and the blood disappeared and in their places was a large pile of dust.

     Hu Li stared bleakly at the dust – all that remained of her mother's terrible life. Draco sensed her discomfort and awkwardly swept it under the sinks with his foot, casting apologetic glances at her while he did this.

     Hermione said in an effort to distract her, "Hu Li, did you cut your hair?"

     She glanced half-heartedly into the mirror. "Yes," she said glumly, "yes, I did. I cut it so as not to be mistaken for Sou Mei – although that rather backfired on me." She glanced at Draco.

     Draco looked up. "I am sorry," he said uncomfortably. "I thought, since you told me you hadn't cut your hair in years, that Sou Mei would be more likely to have the shorter hair. When I saw your face up close – I knew I had the wrong one." He glanced down and then did a double take, staring at the front of her robes. "Are you bleeding?"

     Hu Li sighed softly. "Not anymore." She turned to Hermione and said, "I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Do you two mind if I go?"

     "Not at all," responded Hermione. "Potions is nearly over by now – we'll just go warn that Hufflepuff to say nothing to Madam Pomfrey about you going missing. But perhaps," she added, "you should change your robes. There _is_ quite a bit of blood down your front, and if you were ever stopped by a teacher -"

     Hu Li shrugged. She casually bent down and picked up the dagger, and then shuffled out the door, leaving Draco and Hermione looking wary.  

     She wasn't really watching where she was going – her feet seemed to take on a life of their own, taking her down, down, down – right to Dumbledore's partially open door. 

     Hu Li stared intently at it, as if she could divine the future by using its knotty wooden surface as a tool. Finally she raised her hand and knocked as if she were knocking on the door of Death itself.

     "Yes?" called Dumbledore, and she pushed open the door to reveal herself in all her miserable glory – hair askew, face tearstained, robes bloodied and torn, eyes forever darkened.

     Dumbledore's eyebrows went up ever so slightly. "Hu Li?" he asked carefully.

     He thought she was Sou Mei. She stared at him with wild eyes. "Yes," she blurted crazily, "Yes, I am Hu Li! I am _not_ Sou Mei!" If Albus Dumbledore did not know who she was – how could she be sure that she was indeed Hu Li? 

     He blinked his wise eyes in astonishment. "Forgive me for misleading you," he said quietly. "I did not mean to make you think I did not recognize you. It merely startled me to see you in such a state."

     Realization crept through Hu Li suddenly. "Oh," she said stupidly. "Sorry."

     He nodded toward a chair. She sat. "Now," he said gently. "What happened to you?"

     Hu Li exhaled. "Sou Mei came for me," she said, breathing slowly. "She tried to kill me. I let – I let her stab me with the dagger and I played dead. Then I beheaded her with her own dagger." She shuddered.

     Dumbledore folded his hands and rested his head on them, saying, "This sounds like only the end of a very long story that I have yet to hear."

     Hu Li nodded wearily. "I have not told you much," she confessed, "and I am very sorry for it. I only wanted to save you some worry." She reached into her pocket and pulled out Sou Mei's letters and her dagger and laid them on his desk. "Sou Mei has been sending me things through owl post - this dagger, and these two letters. Also I have been having strange nightmares – first about Jun Tao, when I was in his torture chamber – then about Sou Mei coming out of a mirror to stab me – then about my own reflection turning into a horrible _thing_ and saying it was my soul." She leaned back in his chair. "I did not want to worry you," she said again.

     Dumbledore had been examining the letters and listening to her talk with interest. Now he looked up. "And you beheaded Sou Mei?" he inquired.

     "Yes," said Hu Li wearily. Then something frightening occurred to her. "Oh God – she can't come back from that, right? I mean, I know that most vampires do not return from either being burned or beheaded, but Sou Mei – she won't come back, will she?" Fear clutched at her heart and clawed at her soul.

     Dumbledore shook his head. Hu li exhaled. "No vampire could ever return from such a death," he said. "Not even the Phoenix can regenerate a head."

     Hu Li shut her eyes, remembering one more part of her story. "And," she mumbled, hoping she wouldn't break down in tears, "Sou Mei went to Hong Kong and murdered my father."

     Dumbledore looked at her, sympathy deeply etched on his face. "My apologies," he said softly. "If I had known her intentions, I might have been able to stop her. But it is no one's fault but Sou Mei's."

     Hu Li nodded, eyes still closed. "Professor," she said tentatively, "right before I – before Sou Mei died, she looked at me with such regret in her eyes that I almost felt sorry for her. She seemed to be nothing more than – well, a lost little girl."

     Dumbledore seemed to smile sadly. "Very apt description of the Phoenix. You see, Hu Li, Sou Mei was a nobleman's daughter, thousands of years ago. She was captured by a slave merchant and sold into slavery to a traveling band of criminals. She was not treated well – beaten and spit upon and abused for two years before her original captor came back for her. He was a vampire and a depraved man. He changed her into a vampire and made her the monster she was, never telling her that she needed to only take a wineglass-full of blood to satisfy her hunger. When she found that she had to wallow in blood and death for the rest of eternity, it drove her mad. She killed him – merely the first of millions. Sou Mei developed a name for herself in little time – perhaps two or three hundred years. She has been feared and hated ever since then. She has gloried in her image of a Phoenix of Death and lived up to it with exultation. But I have suspected that Sou Mei has long wished to be peacefully dead, instead living to murder and torture the innocent. It is very tiring, to be as old as she was. I almost suspect that she knew you were more powerful than she, and that is why she came for you – to have you put her out of her misery."

     Hu Li rubbed her eyes tiredly. "What's going to happen to me?" she asked, a little plaintively. "I have no living relatives left – Sou Mei said they were all demons of hell or angels in heaven."

     Albus Dumbledore sat back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling. "I believe Sou Mei was referring to the fact that all of your father's family are dead, and all of your mother's family are vampires. Perhaps …" He looked at her gravely. "Would you object to living with a family of vampires?"

     Hu Li felt a slow shiver start at the base of her spine and creep up her back. "I don't know," she said slowly. "What are my other options?"

     Dumbledore said cautiously, "I don't believe there are too many more. Of course, you could live in a wizard orphanage, or a foster home of wizards."

     Hu Li swallowed. She missed her father with a fiercely painful ache already. "I don't know," she said again in a small voice. She shut her eyes. "I can't believe I killed my own mother."

     Dumbledore said seriously, "You must be commended for your bravery in the face of danger and death, Hu Li. The people who have fought the Phoenix and lived to tell about it can be counted on one hand."

     Hu Li debated telling Dumbledore about Luis Perone, but then decided against it. He'll never come after me now, she thought. "I almost wished I hadn't lived," she said instead. "What do I have to live for? My father is dead. My friends will never look at me the same again. I have to live with strangers. And I am haunted still by gruesome memories of murder – Sou Mei's doings and my own." She let out a long, shuddering sigh.

     Dumbledore said, almost to himself, "Those who have nothing to die for have nothing to live for." Hu Li looked at him, startled. Hadn't that been almost exactly what she had said to Sou Mei?

     "Yes," she said quietly. "The only thing that I could die for was to win the chance to live."

     Dumbledore looked her in the eye. "And you won that chance. You came out of the arena alive, Hu Li. Not all gladiators did."

     The medallion! She recalled. "Professor, why did you give me a medallion inscribed with the phrase, _we who are about to die salute you_?"

     Dumbledore looked very calm. "It was Lamia's medallion. She had it inscribed, not I. It was not that I thought it appropriate for you and your situation – although I did think that if Sou Mei ever saw it that she would appreciate it. But I did not give it to you because I thought you were going to _die_, but because I _knew_ you were going to _live_. Not all Roman gladiators died in the ring, either, Hu Li. The gladiators understood that they might die, but they still went into the ring. It was the threat of ever-present death as they entered the arena that made them so heroic and so brave – the possibility that they could die, but the hope that they would triumph. I have told you before that I need no faith or hope in you because I know that you will achieve whatever you wish to achieve. That stood for both your dealings with the diplomats as well with your mother, and still stands. You are one of the gladiators who have triumphed."

     Hu Li stared at him. Professor Dumbledore was a very wise man, she thought – far wiser than she would ever comprehend. But she thought she had a glimmer of understanding just then. "Thank you, sir," she said, rising and bowing deeply to him. "There is no greater honor that I could ever receive."

     He just smiled. "Oh, you shall have many greater honors in your life than the wandering words of a foolish old man, Hu Li. This is merely the beginning. Remember that, Miss Zhang. What seems to be the end is really just a new beginning."

     Hu Li slowly walked back to the hospital ward, holding her medallion in one hand and her dagger in the other. As she turned a corner and found herself outside the bathroom once more, she wondered for just a fleeting moment that if Sou Mei had known Lamia, then maybe the Phoenix would have turned out differently.

***

     Once again, she was dreaming.

     Hu Li stood at a distance looking up at the Hogwarts castle. It stood imperiously on its hill, surrounded by fog and commanding cliffs. Somewhere in the Forbidden Forest near the castle, an owl hooted, low and mournful. The half moon shone down on the castle, illuminating parts of it in an eerie chiaroscuro. The bright silvery moonlight lit up the snow that was drifting down like uncertain fairies. The snowfall pulled a soft blanket over Hogsmeade, muffling all noise and calming Hu Li. She shivered. She was thinking about her choices. Her past was about to collide with her future and she didn't know how to handle it. 

     She had not decided what to do. Did she want to stay in Britain and continue with her assignment? Or go back to Hong Kong and finish school there? Should she leave all her friends and Hogwarts? Or return to her people, the Chinese? Did she want to live with vampires? Or live in a wizard foster home? 

     Sighing, Hu Li turned her back on Hogwarts and found herself in the middle of a crossroads. All three ways appeared the same at the beginning, but as she peered down each one in turn, she found that because of the snow she could not see more than a few feet into them. The snow was all around her now, heavy and thick, but she was not cold. Rather, she was strangely comforted.

     Hu Li closed her eyes and thought of what she could do. She missed China and Hong Kong, but she didn't know if she could leave Britain. She was accustomed to living with wizards, but would it be better to live with vampires who were related to her rather than strange wizards? She didn't want to disappoint Professor Dumbledore, but she wasn't sure if she had the strength or the honor left in her to continue her assignment.

      Hu Li stood at the crossroads, looking around her. She was completely alone. She inhaled a sharp, cold breath. It seemed to bring life back to her spirit and restore her senses. She felt incredibly alive all of a sudden. She breathed in once more, pulling snow and crisp winter air and vitality into her lungs, into her soul. Hu Li suddenly thought that it didn't matter about her choices. It didn't matter what decision she made. She had gone into the arena and come out again. She was _alive_. And that was all that mattered.

     Hu Li knelt in the snow and kissed the ground, whispering a prayer to her father for guidance. And then she made her decision. She took her road. And she hoped for the best.


End file.
